Silence
by MugiChanx
Summary: Rikuto Koizumi is an ESPer kid, trying to help his dad end the war between the Aliens and Sliders. The daughter of Haruhi Suzumiya has been taken and quite frankly, the war is consuming everything worth holding onto. The fight is on! / / Chapter 10 up!
1. Prologue

**The Very Exciting Authors' Note!**

**Cha-Cha: Okay, we put up the forum for people to enter their OCs for our new fanfic, Silence, but no one entered it (probably because you guys hadn't seen it, or you just didn't know what was going on).**

**So now I (Cha-Cha-Cheesecake, deciding to play around with Mugi's account) am releasing a short prologue of Silence, just to get you guys gripped so you can enter your OCs and get the story going!**

**We came up with inspiration for this kind of fanfic after seeing some of the Angel Beats! RPGs, but instead of role-playing we decided to turn it into a fanfic. Just please, if you're going to enter, have some originality and don't just insert yourself into the story. That'd be lame.**

**Mugi: I want to do the disclaimer!**

**Cha-Cha: No! It's always been my thing! DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THIS. NADA. DO NOT. WELL ACTUALLY I DO. FIFTY PERCENT. It's the work of Mugi too XD I just hacked her account.**

**DISCLAIMER (Again): I do not own the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, nor do I own Nagaru Tanigawa, nor do I own Haruhi Suzumiya herself, but I DO own my OC, same as Mugi owns hers. And, because my character is awesome, I own fake rights over Itsuki too. I can make him dance like a monkey if I want to.**

**Itsuki: You'll never make me do something so barbaric. Not in front of my wife and son!**

**Cha-Cha: Pfft. *Proves her point and makes Koizumi start dancing similar to a monkey during mating season***

**Kazue: Oh nooooo! Not my darling sugar-pie!**

**Rikuto: Dad, you're embarrassing! Come on, Hotaru. Lets get out of here…**

**Hotaru: Cooooooming~**

**Cha-Cha and Mugi: We hope you enjoy the fanfic! Please leave a review to flame constructively, criticise constructively, and show any appreciation you might feel!**

**XXX**

**Silence**

_Deep breaths. Remember what Dad told you to do in a situation like this, _I thought to myself. Hands shaking, I took out my silver handgun, the word SOUL winking at me as the light hit it.

"Just freaking shoot already, Rikuto!" Hotaru hissed beside me.

"Sh-Shut up, I'm nervous!" I snapped. I aimed the gun at the guy's head and, squeezing my eyes shut, pulled the trigger.

I heard the awful bang, and refused to open them until a crowd was forming round him, hiding his body from me.

"You got him good, Rikuto!" Hotaru grinned. "Now you've shot the guard, we can release the prisoners. Those guys will be too busy removing that guy before his blood stains the floor, but if they come you can count on me to knock those guys into the arms of death with my own handgun."

"Okay, okay, stop bragging and lets go!" I took her hand. We crept along to the vent opening and crawled inside, hoping to come out in one of the prison cells.

"Did you remember to get the print of the key?" I asked her, turning a corner. Man, the vents were TINY.

"Yep," she grinned. "I scanned the key when he was on the ground. I can show you the print of it in my wrist, if you want."

"No thanks," I replied, "You know that it freaks me out when you do that." She shrugged.

"Fine then. Now, hurry up. If we jump hard enough, we can manage to collapse the vents and land."

"Are we already above the prison then?" I asked, amazed. She nodded.

"Using my X-Ray vision, I can see through the vents. If we go forward about seven more meters, we should be above one of the cells."

"You sound like a superhero, the way you go on about your powers. But anyway, do you reckon we'll find her? _Her _daughter?" I asked excitedly.

"I doubt it," she said matter-of-factly. "As much as we want to find her, they probably have her hidden away with security much tighter than this hellhole."

"I know, but don't you think that they would try and trick people to think that? Because if everyone thought that she was in those places, they'd go there instead of some lowly prison cell, wouldn't they?""I can see you're still hanging off your dad's every last word," she said sourly. I glared at her.

"What's with that tone? He's my _dad_," I snapped, crawling forward on my knees.

"What's with my tone? You sound like my wife," she laughed. "Look, no need to get snappy. I'm only saying that you need a shred of independence, you know? You rely on your dad for everything."

"Do you see him here?" I replied, "No, you do not. Because I convinced him I could take care of this by myself!"

"Shut up, we're over a prison cell now. Jump!"

I did as she instructed, tired of arguing with her. One the third jump, with our strength, the floor beneath us collapsed, sending us clattering down in a prisoner's cell.

She looked up, startled. She was older than us, around my father's age, or maybe younger. Her long red hair was dark with dirt and hung loosely around her shoulders.

Her eyes were filled with fear, and then sudden realisation over something. She gave me a tight hug.

"Oh, my gosh, thank you for coming to rescue me! But how did you time-travel?" I blinked. What was this lady talking about?

"Do you know her, Rikuto?" Hotaru asked, raising her eyebrows. I shook my head fiercely.

"Huh? Rikuto?" she pulled away from me, looking confused. "B-But… Mr Koizumi… What do you mean?"

"A-Are you mistaking me with my dad?" I asked, uncertainly. Her face lit up.

"Ah! Y-Yes! I'm sorry. Then… it's you. Rikuto Koizumi. My godson…!" I stared at her, mouth hanging open. Hotaru looked pretty alarmed too.

"You told me you didn't know her, you pig," she said, glaring at me.

"I don't! I've never met her before in my life!" I stared at her. She was shorter than me.

"My name is Mikuru Asahina. I used to be good friends and an ally with your father. I'm sorry I got you confused with him. You look a lot like him, and with the light in here, I can't see very well…"

"We're here to free the prisoners," I explained softly, telling her about our plan.

"C-Can you really do that?" she asked, her eyes filled with hope. I nodded, then turned to Hotaru.

"It's your turn to shine, honey."

"Shut up. You're such a ladies man," she snapped. Then she grinned. "That's right. It's my turn to get to work here!"

I watched with fascination as she stuck her finger into the lock and changed the shape of it into the print of the key. That's something I'll never understand about her. Most of the time she hates using her powers, saying it makes her feel singled out. But on these missions she brags and brags and shows off at any chance she gets.

The door swung open and Mikuru Asahina was almost crying tears of joy.

"Oh, oh thank you," she wept, stumbling out of her cell.

"Great work, Hotaru, you got us out. Now we need to release everyone." I turned around. "But we need to hurry. Someone's bound to come down here sooner or later, and you know I'm terrible at all the shooting stuff. But we need you for the locks."

"Okay." She went to the next cell, releasing a little boy about eight. He was also crying.

"Shh, it's okay. You're free now," she smiled. "We're gathering up all the imprisoned time-travellers and setting them free. Hopefully we'll pull off the stunt easy enough. We've done worse."

"Stop talking and free everyone, people will be coming soon!" I called. She rolled her eyes and freed the rest of the people. On the last one, a voice said,

"Hey! Who are you kids!"

"Crap! They're coming!" I took out my handgun and pulled the trigger without flinching this time. It's always worst for me when I have to kill someone, but just shooting them in their leg or something's easy.

Unfortunately for me, they were good at dodging. Glaring at them, I shot at the toughest-looking guy and a bullet went right into his leg. He screamed and fell to the floor, getting the other guards' attention.

"Hey, Suzuki? Damn it, that brat has a gun!" They all stared at me with dangerous eyes. I brought up my gun and pulled the trigger on that guy. It struck his arm, making him fall to the ground in agony.

"Hurry up and get them out of here, Hotaru!" I yelled.

"No fear. You get them out. You always try to avoid killing people. It's their own fault for attacking innocent kids," she huffed. "You go, I'll defend."

"We're the last thing from innocent, we just shot two guards and stole away the prisoners!"

"Fine." I beckoned the frightened prisoners forward. "Come on, guys. I'm getting us out of here." I turned my head around to see Hotaru cracking her skull against another of the guards, knocking him out and probably leaving him brain-damaged. The nerve of that girl sometimes was amazing.

The guards were sprawled around on the floor, unmoving.

"Okay, Rikuto, go!" she commanded. I ran quickly, bringing the prisoners with me, while she fired her gun at some guy's head. Lovely.

The second we got out, though, we were practically surrounded by huge men with guns. I wished at that point Dad was there. He could deal with things like this much better than I could.

The second one lifted his gun, Hotaru aimed hers at his head and pulled the trigger. At that moment they knew with someone like Hotaru by my side it would be useless. Besides, the prisoners seemed to know a bit about fighting (with the exception of Mikuru Asahina, who was fretting and worrying about what to do). Even the eight-year-old kid was good at kicking the guards' shins.

We advanced towards the door quite quickly, telling the prisoners to escape somewhere safe and keep hidden for a while. Just as we were about to, someone shouted,

"STOP!" I turned around, startled. A lady with huge black hair that was impossibly long stared down at us. At once I felt Hotaru stiffen beside me.

"You, frigging cow. What do you want?" she snapped.

"The Sky Canopy Domain did NOT create you so that you could go around and free the time-travellers. We captured those to try and win the war."

"And we let them go so you couldn't," she snapped, "are we done here?"

I saw a dangerous look in the woman's eye. If Hotaru winded her up any more I could tell it would lead to trouble.

I grabbed Hotaru's hand and pulled her through the doors, closing it quickly and running until we were in a dark alley way on the other side of town.

"Jeez, Rikuto, what did you do that for?" she huffed, looking cross.

"Wasn't our goal to free the time-travellers, not go around picking fights with the enemy?" I reminded her, out of breath. "Come on. We need to get back to Dad and tell him what happened. He's going to get mad at you, Hotaru."

"Whatever," she said. It was then that I saw the woman from before come up to us. Mikuru Asahina. My godmother.

"P-Please, Rikuto, please take me to your father," she pleaded. "I need to speak to him. I was on my journey to see him when I got captured, actually."

"Okay," I agreed. "Our base isn't too far away from here. I hope it isn't going to rain though. I forgot to take my coat from my house, and it isn't safe to go back there anymore."

On the way back, Mikuru Asahina told me about my father.

"He was a great person, kind, although he wound us up quite a bit with his smiley nature."

"Huh. That's not surprising. He's a brilliant dad, and I think the world of him, but he does tend to wind me up sometimes. But it's been months since he's last smiled. Since he started leading the rebellion after Mr Arakawa was killed, he hasn't smiled once. It's horrible." But I wasn't set on upsetting her further so I said, "But it's okay. He'll be happy we freed the time-travellers, so maybe today he'll smile a bit."

Mikuru Asahina was quiet for the rest of the journey.

**XXX**

"Daaaad, we're back!" I called to him. Mikuru Asahina cowered behind Hotaru, shy, as my dad entered the hall.

"Hey, Rikuto, Hotaru. Did you manage to free the time-travellers from Suou's mansion?" he asked, ruffling my hair.

"Yeah, we did. We bought back an old friend as well." Mikuru Asahina stepped out shyly, smiling tearfully.

"Oh, Mr Koizumi, uh, it's so good to see you," she smiled, giving him a hug. He was in complete shock.

"Miss Asahina! I thought you were dead!" He looked her in the eyes. "Where were you when you promised to come and talk to me three months ago?"

"I was in Miss Suou's mansion, like all the other time-travellers. I thought they'd keep me some place with higher security because I was an ally with Miss Suzumiya, but I guess I was of no use to them…"

"Yes, I was wondering that too. I'm so glad you're back! We lost contact right after Rikuto was born, so I hadn't seen you for years. You should come and see Kazue again. She's really missed you being around." He beckoned for us to come into the common room of the ESPers. This was good for us, because I wasn't usually allowed in there with Hotaru because they didn't understand yet that she was fully against the Sky Canopy Domain, her creators.

Mori Sonou was there, talking to my mom, and when she saw Mikuru Asahina she gave her a huge hug.

"Oh, Mikuru, where have we been without you?" Mikuru Asahina giggled nervously, obviously thrilled that we'd missed her so much. My mom was also very happy.

"Mikuru, it's been so long!"

"Oh, Miss Kazue!" They gave each other a huge hug. I stared. How long had they been friends without telling me, then?

"M-Mom?" she looked up, then let go of Mikuru Asahina and gave me and Hotaru a hug too.

"Aw, hi Rikuto, hi Hotaru! I thought you two would never come back." She smiled. "Meet your godmother, Mikuru Asahina."

"I already have met her," I pointed out, "I rescued her from that hellhole in Suou's house." Mom blinked, then glared at Dad.

"Itsuki, why did you send Rikuto and Hotaru out on a mission again? I told you, they're just kids. They shouldn't have to deal with that kind of stuff!"

"Rikuto offered, and you know Hotaru loves to go on missions. I was going to go myself with Miss Mori, but they were eager to go there by themselves," he said, defending himself. He picked up my favourite red and black baseball cap and handed it to me. "You left this here today."

"Yeah, I thought if I went with it I'd lose it. Thanks, Dad."

"No problem, kiddo. Miss Asahina, allow Miss Mori to take you to the changing rooms to find some clean clothes and take a shower, while supper's being made. Then we can all talk. Including you two, kids," he said before we'd snuck away - the meals here way too traditional. I'd forgotten the last time I'd tucked into a good old WcDonalds. Mikuru Asahina nodded shyly and followed Mori up the staircase that led to the changing rooms.

"Come here, kids. I want another hug," my mom said. We shuffled forward and she snuggled into us like we were hot blankets or something. Then she put on the electric heater and we sat down in front of it, suddenly freezing.

When Mikuru Asahina came down she looked about twenty. Her hair was all silky and the colour of rose-petals, and she was in this pretty green dress that made her look a bit like a flower fairy.

"You look so cute, Mikuruuuu," Mom cooed, inviting her for another hug. My mom's a very… clingy person.

"By the way, what can I call you? I'm a bit old for Auntie Mikuru, but I don't want to be all formal with you," I said to her, curling up my toes and turning my baseball cap backwards on my head. She giggled softly.

"You can just call me Mikuru." She said it to Hotaru as well. Hotaru flicked back her own red hair.

"Okay," she grinned. Then her stomach growled. "Hey, when's supper going to be ready? I'm starving!" she bellowed towards the kitchen.

**XXX**

**Cha-Cha: WOW. That prologue was way longer than I thought it would be. It's one of the longest pieces I've written, actually, which is kind of shocking XD I must suck!**

**I didn't intend to make this sound to shouen either, although it kinda sounded like it. Please leave a review to say what you think about it, or post an OC on our forum!**

**Mugi: Don't I get to say anything at all? This is my account you're on!**

**Hotaru: What is with me? I act way to tsundere! Are you TRYING to make me look like I'm romantically involved with Rikuto? We're practically siblings!**

**Kazue: I love my little Rikuto and Hotaru very much ^_^**

**Itsuki: I didn't sound nearly as gay as they make me act in the anime series, so thank you very much! I love my Kazue and Rikuto…. And Hotaru, too.**

**Hotaru: Thanks.**

***Kazue and Itsuki give each other Eskimo kisses***

**Rikuto: Ugh!**

**Cha-Cha and Mugi: Please review, and don't forget to add an OC to our crazy fanfic!**


	2. Chapter 1

**The Very Exciting Authors' Note!**

**Cha-Cha: Aaaaaaand, we're back! We got good reviews from aprilfool1993 and Trying Too Hard To Be Cool too - Thanks!**

**In answer to aprilfool1993's review: Hopefully Mugi will update her other story soon, I'll have to keep nagging her about it. I agree that Hotaru's power are very superhero-like and that's one thing about this piece I don't like much. It kinda clashes with her factfile on the forum, but I tried my best to make it flow with the story. Sorry about that :/ Well, we're glad that you are enjoying it and we're updating more soon! If you know anyone that might be interested, or if you want to submit an OC yourself, please feel free to mention it :D We welcome anybody.**

**And in answer to Trying Too Hard To Be Cool's review: I agree from the summary it looks a bit weird, and OCs usually mean crap, right? Well, admittedly, I don't usually read OC fics myself (although in the past I have written quite a few of them), so I'm glad you like the scenario and idea of it. And we totally love your OC! The only thing we're changing about her is her height. Making her a shortie will give Rikuto and Hotaru excuses to tease her a bit XD**

**Kazue: I luuuuuve you, aprilfool1993 and Trying Too Hard To Be Cool! Give me a hug? :3**

**Rikuto: Mom, you're so embarrassing. Don't go around attacking reviewers.**

**Itsuki: My, my, how did I get lucky enough to have a wife and son? Thank you for not interpreting me as gay ^-^**

**Hotaru: I am waaaaay too superhero-like. It's annoying DX Get it right, Cha-Cha!**

**Mugi: Why am I still not getting lines? :'(**

**Cha-Cha: Here, say the next bit, whatever.**

**Mugi: We're very happy to announce that we got a new OC to join us! ^0^ Her name is Momoka Murakami, she's fourteen years old, a samurai-type human girl, and she's really cute as well! She was created by Trying Too Hard To Be Cool. Say hello, Momoka!**

**Momoka: Um, hi, thanks for adding me. Really appreciate it. Uh… yeah… *puts on her headphones***

**Mugi: Sigh… not all cuties can be sociable.**

**Cha-Cha: DISCLAIMER: I do not own The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya because if I did this whole thing would be real, not fake. And I wouldn't have taken 3 freaking years to write the tenth volume!**

**Mugi: If you want to learn more about Rikuto and Hotaru, please feel free to drop by on the forum to read more about them! And please leave a review, or enter an OC to our forum? It's really easy to do, we even have a template for you! :D And also, Haruhi's daughter hasn't been created by us yet, so if someone wants to create her as an OC they can.**

**Mugi and Cha-Cha: Please continue to support this fanfic and maybe review to say how much you liked or hated it?**

**XXX**

**Silence**

I'm so tired of being happy. Ever since I was born, our world has been in a raging war. When I was a kid, I would always wait up for my dad to come home from fighting, and give him a hug, make him some tea. But he would always be too tired to say much to me, other than, "Thanks for the tea."

I can't help but smile though. I have so much fun every day, but I hate that. While people are dying, being locked up, sobbing their hearts out and waiting to be freed, I'm arguing with Hotaru, playing on my Xbox, laughing, chatting with my parents and the other members of the Agency. It feels so wrong, bitterly unfair. It's not right, damn it.

I was so lonely all those years, too. Everyone would go and fight, and I'd be sat alone up in my bedroom, with only one of the most useless people on our team staying with me to defend the base. Until Hotaru was made.

She was made as a ten year old little girl, only a year younger than me. Her name was originally Zuki, named after one of the most famous of aliens for her allying with Suzumiya, and she was an alien created _by _the aliens. But she was built wrong. She could age. She could eat. She could sleep, feel pain, the things aliens lacked. They thought it was bad, not good. So they left her in their old base when it got sabotaged, expecting her to perish along with the building.

But my dad rescued her. He named her Hotaru Mizuki, and gave her love and care, as any child should have. No one outside the Agency once suspected she was made by the Sky Canopy Domain. And it was pure bliss to have a friend.

Sure, she was hot-headed and a bit unsure of the world at first, but she was almost the same age as me and we clicked, just like that. It was easy. And it felt so great to have a best friend. It was so _amazing_.

My mom, Kazue, she was so kind to her as well. But now they don't have much time to fuss over us. They think because we're fifteen and sixteen they don't have to worry about us anymore. But now we have Mikuru. It's a great feeling to have someone looking out for us again when they're all so busy.

She became our cleaning lady today. I'm not even kidding. She was like a little fairy in a fluffy top which obviously belonged to my mom, a cute ruffled skirt and a little white apron, whizzing round, cleaning _everything_. I woke up to a dazzlingly clean base. It was like walking through a fancy state-of-the-arts place that only existed in books nowadays, thanks to the stupid war our country had been caught up in.

"Wow," I breathed, taking in how clean everything was, breathing in the freshness of this place after her amazing clean-up skills. Mikuru smiled at me.

"Thanks for the compliment," she giggled, her ponytail wobbling with her laughter. "If you're looking for Miss Hotaru, she's eating her breakfast in the common room."

"We're not allowed to eat in there!" I grumbled, opening the door. She was sat in front of the TV in her silky green pyjamas. Typical.

"Yo," she said, barely looking up. Her eyes were glued to the screen.

"Hotaru, you know if any of the Agency found out you were eating your cereal in here-" I began.

"Shut up," she said, glaring at me. "They won't, will they? They're tracking down all the time-travellers from yesterday's prison break so that they can be escorted into our less noticeable bases, away from the aliens. They won't care."

"Look, you're almost spilling your bowl!" I exclaimed, whisking it away from her hastily. "Go sit at the table! Come on, you've watched this show way too many times. I'll sit with you."

Grouchy, she took her bowl off me again and went to sit at the table in the next room. That's "our" room. They say that because we're the only ones that use it, but honestly, if they used it then they wouldn't all be crammed into the common room. Adult logic is seriously retarded.

I poured myself a bowl of cereal with a glass of orange juice to follow and went through into "our" room, sitting down next to Hotaru. Her face looked ready to murder me.

"That was my favourite TV show," she growled dangerously. "Daisuke and Izumi were about to be captured by spies!"

"I don't care," I replied. "You've seen that episode twice, and I honestly don't care about what happens to Daisuke and Izumi. What do you want to do today? Should we help out Dad?"

"Naw. You can, but I'm still tired from yesterday." She eyed me. "Is daddy's little angel going to help out?"

"Don't call me that." I folded my arms. "I'm just saying, he's got enough on his plate. Why don't we help him out?"

"Because we did his dirty work for him yesterday," she snapped. "Our job is to be kids and have fun, not try and stop this stupid war, and pick up the pieces of someone else's mess."

"It's _our_ mess," I reminded her. "_We_ were the ones who released the time-travellers."

"_They_ ordered us to!" she pointed out. "And anyway, it was the aliens who cooped them up in the first place."

"Which is why we should help out. _You're_ an alien, are you not?" She glared at me dangerously.

"Don't say it, Rikuto. You know you'll regret it." She sighed and leaned back. "I am _not_ with those creeps, and you know it. But if you really want to, I suppose I'll tag along and pretend that I'm helping out."

"Great! Now go and get dressed, we need to get going soon." Grumbling under her breath, she abandoned her cereal and stomped upstairs. It was then the fax machine started whirring.

"U-Um, what's with that thing?" she stuttered, frightened of the sudden noise.

"It's sending a fax through. I'll handle it," I called. I made my way over to the fax machine and read what the fax had said.

_Rikuto,_

_If you're not doing anything today, would you mind coming to help out me and your mother? We've found someone who's just become a new member of our team. You should come and meet her. You and Hotaru can show her around, since she's way younger than I am, and she's barely listening to what I'm saying._

_- Dad_

"A new member of our team? Holy… Why? Why wasn't she afraid to join us? Everybody else in the country is either on the Slider side or the Alien side. Hmm… Hey, Hotaru!" I called up the stairs to her.

"What is it?" She appeared downstairs moments later with her red top on, black pants and signature black jacket, her auburn hair tied back in a ponytail with some red ribbon she probably stole out of my mom's room.

"Dad sent me a fax just. They found a new recruit for our team, and she's around our age," I said, showing her the fax. Her eyes widened.

"Wow," she breathed. "No one's joined us for ages. This is awesome! We're one step closer to ending the war now!"

I finished my cereal and drank my orange juice hurriedly, eager to meet up with my dad and meet this new recruit.

"I'm going to get dressed," I announced.

"Congratulations," Hotaru said dryly, turning on the TV again.

I headed upstairs to my room. That was one thing about this base that I loved.

My room. I didn't have to sleep with any of the other ESPers who might spend their nights talking, or drinking, or smoking. I got a room all to myself, although Dad said if anyone came unexpectedly he'd have to sleep in my room until they got another bed in the dorms that all the other ESPers stay in.

I opened the door to my bedroom. The white walls greeted me. When we'd first built the base my dad had asked if I wanted to change the colour of the bedroom walls, but I love the colour white. It's my favourite colour, actually. On the walls I'd tacked pictures of my parents, me, Hotaru, and some of the other ESPers. My bedroom was quite messy, actually, with my desk cluttered with drawings and notes and diagrams, my bed unmade and covered with crumpled clothes and books. I needed a clean-up in there.

I opened my drawers and put on a blue undershirt, a clean white shirt, and my black jeans. Quickly I straightened my collar, tugged on my sneakers and tied the laces, combed my hair with my fingers and slapped my baseball cap on my head.

"Okay, I'm coming," I called, rushing down the stairs. She turned around.

"That was quick," she commented. I pushed her out of the back door. As I did, Mikuru came into the hallway.

"U-Um, where are you guys going?" she asked timidly.

"We're going to help out Dad," I said, waving at her. "We'll be back when he is!" I shut the door behind us.

I knew where they were most likely to be - at our abandoned base. The aliens had left it well alone a long time ago, when they'd invaded it last. They thought that we were dumb enough to never go back there after they'd invaded. They thought if we'd moved to a new base, there was no possible way we'd use our old one for something else. Aliens are pathetic (save Hotaru).

I was right as well. It was pretty easy to get to, actually (no wonder the aliens found us out). All you had to do was walk past the music store, back behind the park and through part of the woods. We only got to the park when we saw my dad. He was obviously waiting for us to arrive.

"Hey, Dad!" he looked up and waved. For the first time in ages, he was smiling.

"Hey, Rikuto, Hotaru. You two are such generous kids, coming out to help. It means a lot," he said, leading us back to the old base.

"Yeah, yeah. Is there anything cooking?" Hotaru asked hopefully. He chuckled.

"Sadly, there's not, but on the way back you guys can pick something for supper tonight as a treat for coming out here on your day off," he replied.

"Thanks, Dad!" I grinned. "Something unhealthy, at last - I can't wait."

Laughing, he led us to the base and into a charred room which used to be my bedroom. A petite girl with a mop of black hair was sat down in the corner, her back to us, listening to music. It was very hard to believe that this girl could possibly be a recruit.

"Um… are you a time-traveller from yesterday?" I asked. She took out her headphones and turned around.

Her piercing green eyes caught me off guard for a moment - they were just so… bright, and perfect on her face. Her olive skin and slender cheekbones all harmonised with her eyes, too. It seemed a beauty was sat before me. She glared at me.

"None of the time-travellers I've seen wandering around aimlessly today have been listening to music, or wearing expensive and relatively clean clothing, so no, I am not." Having said this, she reached for her headphones, but Hotaru beat her to it.

"Wow, you're cute. You seem kinda wimpy, though. Well, except for your ego."

"Shut up," she snapped, "and give those back." Hotaru began to listen to her music.

"Wow, you listen to emo stuff? Booooooring," she said, taking the headphones off again.

"If you don't like what I listen to than give them to me!" The girl looked furious. Her cheeks were pink, too. "It's none of your business what music I listen to anyway!"

"Break it up," Dad said, coming between them and taking the headphones from Hotaru. "Look, sweetie, I'm only having the headphones for now because you could do with listening to this." He turned back to us and motioned for her to stand up and join him. Sulking, she stood up and shuffled over to him. "Now, Rikuto, Hotaru. This is Momoka Murakami."

He then turned to Momoka. "Miss Momoka, this is my son, Rikuto Koizumi, and Hotaru Mizuki, Rikuto's friend from childhood."

I took a good look at her, now she was stood up. She was wearing a white tank top, with a faded camouflage-green jacket over that looked like it had been battered and stitched up many times, black shorts and camouflage-green doc martens. I was impressed. This girl looked a lot tougher in these clothes, but she still looked slightly like a kid playing dress-up.

"Er, nice to meet you, Momoka," I said, holding out my hand for her to shake. She shook it, her ragged and bitten-down fingernails digging into my hand slightly, "I'm sorry for mistaking you for one of the time-travellers." She frowned.

"Uh, okay, sure." She stared at Hotaru, as if to say, "…Well? You can shake my hand now, too."

"…Hey. So what are you, anyway? Another ESPer?" Momoka took her hand and shook it. I noticed she was squeezing her hand tightly.

"I'm not an ESPer, nor am I a time-traveller, or a slider, and I'm certainly not an alien. I'm just a human girl." We stared.

"What do you mean, certainly not an alien? Racist," said Hotaru, gritting her teeth.

"But you can't be!" I exclaimed. "Most of the regular humans are in hiding, in the countries that aren't involved in the war. Why would you be in Japan right now?" She scowled.

"I'm not a regular human. I'm not like the rest of them. I'm the toughest of the tough. I bet I'm way better at fighting than you! I've trained and lived by myself since I was seven. What makes you think I'm normal?" I was taken aback by this. She couldn't have been older than me, but there was also no way we could've been the same age.

"How old are you, anyway? You're short," I said.

"Fourteen," she answered, eying me. "You're also short. How old are _you_?"

"I'm not short! And, for your information, I am sixteen. So show me some damn respect!"

**XXX**

**Cha-Cha: Okay, so we met Momoka, found out a bit about Hotaru and Rikuto's pasts, and we also found out what Hotaru likes to do first thing in the morning.**

**Rikuto: That's what she said!**

**Cha-Cha: That **_**is **_**what I said, dammit!**

**Kazue: *sob* I didn't even get an appearance in this chapter!**

**Cha-Cha: That's because you weren't supposed to be here, you're a human and I didn't feel like adding you, okay? Get over it! You weren't even planned to be here until I was writing the prologue!**

**Itsuki: Hehe… I got lots of screen-time in this episode…**

**Momoka: *puts on her headphones* I can't believe it's only the first chapter and you're **_**already **_**adding an OC into the plot. I'm not joining in next chapter so the readers can read more Rikuto and Hotaru moments, so there.**

**Cha-Cha: Th-That's so cruel, Momoka…**

**Rikuto: Well, I thought it went great, Cha-Cha.**

**Cha-Cha: You're such a good OC, Rikuto. I raised you right. But you're kinda a kiss-ass. Lay off, okay?**

**Mugi: Again, I did no contribution to this chapter, so you decided to cut out all my dialogue?**

**Cha-Cha: It's equivalent exchange, Mugi. *taps nose***

**Mugi: Sniff… That's so unfair.**

**Cha-Cha: Once again, please leave a review saying what you liked or hated, and don't forget to check out our forum and upload an OC if you have one and want to become a part of Silence!**


	3. Chapter 2

**The Very Exciting Authors' Note!**

**Cha-Cha: Hey hey hey, guys! I am very excited to announce that we're 100% on the second chapter! And we had four more reviews since last time! Thank you so much! 3 I'd have given up on this by now if it weren't for you guys!**

**Now, it's time for the reviewing corner… I'm going to reply to everyone's reviews!**

**superstarultra, Prologue: I'm glad you like the action in this chapter! And I'm also really happy you enjoyed it and read it! It means a lot that you took your time to read our fanfic, as we aren't the most popular of fic writers out there… Don't worry. Hopefully the others will come in soon… Hopefully…**

**superstarultra, chapter 1: I'm glad the OCs didn't scare you away XD I generally am quite proud at how smoothly things went in chapter one… I'm definitely going to have them doing things just the two of them a lot as well as all the other OCs getting involved because I think they need to spend a lot of time together for the plot to unfold. Again, thank you for reading it! And yes, Itsuki is going to be VERY main for now XD**

**aprilfool1993, chapter 1: Don't worry, Kazue will be a lot happier this chapter, promise! And yes, in answer to your half-question, it originally took place before Rikuto was born, so everyone knows about the existence of aliens, time-travellers, ESPers and sliders by now. :D I'll do my best to make Momoka way more badass than she looks at the moment, but badass wasn't really how she was described. More… anti-social. But yeah, I'll do my best to keep the OCs in character! Kazue luuuuuves you XD She'll be giving you plenty more hugs in future :3**

**Drake Nolsa, chapter 1: Thanks, we'll write more, don't worry! :D**

**Kazue: *hugs aprilfool1993, superstarultra and Drake Nolsa* I luuuuuuuve new people!**

**Cha-Cha: Kazue, you can't just go around hugging people! I've already told you once!**

**Momoka: …*steals her headphones back from Itsuki, who didn't give them back after the end of the first chapter***

**Mugi: Oh yes! We forgot to mention! We got four more OCs to join us! :D Say hello to Takeo Suzumiya, Hiroyuki Vessalius, Dango Yowaki and Jack "Snake" Lesser!**

**Takeo: Hey, guys. You might know me from superstar ultra's fanfic, You Got HaruhiRolled! I was created by Mr Wang 330, and, although you may or may not have already noticed, I am Haruhi and Kyon's son. I'll give you more information about my family/relationship with them and others in later chapters… or you can just go check out the forum and post your own OC, or look at my master's profile?**

**Hiro: Hi! I was created by Kyon-Is-Haruhi's-Slave00, and I am a normal-ish human. I am tall, very tall, and my hair will NEVER stay straight. I have my moments of being deep and everything, but everyone prefers my happy and joker side.**

**Rikuto *mumbling* I don't know, he sounds kinda dodgy…**

**Hiro: What was that?**

**Dango: Hey, I was created by Yowaki, and I'm a medium. Ya know. Something different. Like, I can predict stuff, and all the cool jazz mediums do. I'm super happy I got picked :D I beat my room-mate, Soriyu. Hah.**

**Jack: Hi, everybody! I was created by Drake Nolsa, and I have a lot to say about myself. I am an ESPer, therefore I can use all the coolest ESP, and I was trapped in a parallel universe for three years. I was taught almost everything there is to know involving physical and mental strength, and I am definitely against the aliens.**

**Itsuki: Have you ever noticed how similar we are? I mean, we seem to have similar personalities… maybe you're my son, instead of Rikuto.**

**Rikuto: **_**Dad!**_

**Cha-Cha: Anyway, if you wanna stop by our forum and check out their profiles or create an OC yourself, go right on ahead! You're practically guaranteed a place in Silence! Plus you can learn some things that aren't mentioned in the chapters, and so on. Also, please leave a review to say what you despised or enjoyed about this chapter!**

**Mugi: And I still get no more than two lines?**

**Cha-Cha: Equivalent exchange, bitch!**

**XXX**

**Silence**

After plenty of reasoning and finding seven more time-travellers, today came to a close. I was grateful. It was painful to be out there all day when I could've been watching TV or something.

I kept sneaking glances at Rikuto, who was talking to the new girl. Then I looked up at his dad, who was walking a few feet behind us. Those two really do look similar. Rikuto has caramel-blonde hair, rather than Kazue's thick black hair, but he does have her eyes, greener than green.

I remembered when I was really young, eleven, and I thought that I was going to marry him, but by the time I'd made it to thirteen I'd realised that he'd obviously marry somebody else, so if I kept that idea in my head it would only be harder for me afterwards. I wouldn't dream of marrying him now. He's just so… _annoying_.

"So, Koizumi, that treat you mentioned earlier…" I began. Rikuto stopped talking and grinned.

"Yeah, Dad, you promised us we could pick out anything we wanted for supper. Remember?"

He nodded, laughing. "You two! Okay, okay, we're near the convenience store now, so you two can go in and get something. Here's some money." He fished around in his pocket and handed us 1076 yen **(A/N: that's almost 13 dollars**). "Bring me some change though."

"Got it!" Rikuto got given the money, but we went together. Typical. Koizumi obviously doesn't trust me with money. Momoka stayed behind with Koizumi while we took a trip to the convenience store.

"So, what do you think of Momoka?" Rikuto asked brightly, as we walked down the street. I blew a raspberry.

"You sound awfully cheerful, considering she called you short," I said. He shrugged.

"She's so… cute, though. If you get what I'm saying. She's fourteen! So young, and everything!" He sighed. "I remember when we were that difficult age…"

"Yeah, you were all zitty and thought that your wisecracks were funny," I said, reliving memories of him trying to make me laugh using his worst jokes and expressions.

"And you were constantly moody and hard to get along with," he retorted. Then he stroked his chin. "Wait a sec - that's you _now_."

"That's mean and totally uncalled for!" I snapped. "Anyway, what should we have for supper?" By now we'd reached the convenience store.

"How about pizza? Something western," Rikuto mused, heading straight to the frozen section.

"Hmm… What kind of pizza do we both like?" I asked, looking at the different types.

"How about margarita on deep-pan?" he suggested. I nodded.

"Okay. Now go pay for it." He took the pizza off me and went over to the cash register to buy it. I skipped over to the sweet section and looked around, keeping a low profile. I was taught it when I was younger anyway so I had gotten good at it. I knew if an alien walked in here I would be erased before I'd even had the chance to say "Open Sesame".

That said, why would I say "Open Sesame" in the first place?

"Heeey!" about a minute later Rikuto approached me with a plastic bag. I peered inside it. Along with the pizza, Rikuto had bought some spearmint chewing gum. Sweet gesture.

"Thanks. Now lets go." I steered him to the front door, taking some chewing gum out of the back and popping it in my mouth. At once the taste exploded in my mouth and I closed my eyes, peacefully - spearmint gum is my all-time favourite food (if gum even counts as a food). He sure knows how to treat a girl.

"Hey, do you ever wish we could go to school like your dad used to?" I asked Rikuto. He nodded.

"Of course. Most days, really. I wish, for once, we could maybe live a normal life or something, where we wouldn't have to worry about having our heads blown off and losing people we love to the freaking aliens. Maybe we could ask Mikuru about it. If we reason with her, she could always take us back in time so we could see what it was like to go to school normally and be a regular high school student. I can't even do stuff that we were supposed to be educated on, like write essays or do long division, or work out a scientific formula. All I know is how to fire a gun, or how to knock a guy out using only my thumb on his Adam's Apple, and all the stuff kids like us shouldn't learn. Sometimes I agree with my mom. This is all stupid."

"Yeah." I stared at the floor. "I wish I had a mom." He grabbed my hand, squeezing it tightly.

"You have my mom and dad, Hotaru. And you have me as well. We're your family."

**XXX**

"Thanks for the food!" I grinned, grabbing a slice of pizza. Rikuto was right behind me.

"Slow down, you two," laughed Koizumi, taking one himself. Kazue tucked into her salad rather than joining us (she's always on these weird diets, god knows how thin she wants to get), but a smile played on her lips.

"I'd forgotten the last time we'd eaten junk food for supper," I moaned, feeling fresh tears of joy in my eyes.

"Iss so good," mumbled Rikuto, mouth full.

"Don't talk with your mouth full," Kazue said sternly, playing responsible adult for once. From the corner of my eye, I saw Momoka glaring at her empty plate. Well, she shouldn't have blamed the plate for the fact that she didn't like pizza.

"Er, Mikuru," I said, turning to the former time-traveller. She was sat next to me, and was trying to eat around the crust of her slice.

"Yes, Miss Hotaru?" she asked, smiling at me innocently.

"Me and Rikuto were wondering… is it possible for you to take us back in time so that we can see what school-life was like back when you used to go to North High?" I asked.

She shook her head miserably. "I'm sorry, but I can't. Not right now. The thing is, I can't make time-trips without a good reason. Because the other time-travellers are being escorted to different bases to keep them hidden, we're not together to decide on it. I really am sorry." She looked like a wounded puppy.

"N-No, it's okay! I'm sorry that I asked. I just didn't think people would make such a big deal over it." I bit into my pizza and chewed thoughtfully.

Well, what was I expecting? If Mikuru was detected using her TPDD then the Aliens would be onto her like hunters searching for a wild boar, or something like that (Koizumi's catchphrases rub off on you after time). Then she'd be captured again and probably tortured until she revealed where our new base was. I'm not entirely sure what that kind of torture would involve, though. Maybe they'd shave off her hair or something.

"That was great, thanks," I said, standing up. "Thank you for the meal. I'm heading up to my room."

"Okay then? Glad you enjoyed it," Koizumi said. Nodding, I left the room and made my way to my bedroom.

I like this base more than the last one. In the last base I had to share with Miss Mori and the other female fighters in the Agency in a dorm. But in this base, like Rikuto, I was allowed my own room.

Some of the other girls were green with envy. I bet they were wondering while me, an alien, got to have an awesome room all to myself, while they were stuck in the dorms like last time. That was pretty simple, wasn't it? I was practically a daughter to Koizumi and Kazue.

I opened the door to my room. It had red walls and a white carpet, and my bed had white sheets on them. Most think that white's a boring colour. I don't. I think that after red it's the most magical colour in the world.

Does it not remind anyone of snow? That's what I think, anyway. My bedroom was pretty messy, actually - my desk had loads of manga piled up on it, a few rough drawings and sketches of characters, my bed was unmade and had different shades of red pencils scattered on it.

I flopped down on my bed, humming to an American song I'd heard before by some band called the Black-Eyed Peas. No pop song could shake off the feeling of wanting to go back in time, though. I could've seen so many things.

And all my life, I'd wanted to wear a sailor uniform, but the Aliens weren't gracious enough to fashion me a sailor uniform when they created me, and it wasn't like I went to school anyway. If they were going to abandon me in that stupid base, they could've at least given me a cute outfit to wear rather than leaving me in a stupid operation gown. Just what in the heck was that all about, anyway?

Did I not deserve proper clothing, or something? Oh sure, treat me like a freaking farm animal, why don't you.

Muttering under my breath, I turned on my laptop and signed into MSN.

Almost instantly, I got an IM.

**Sorry I'm Different says:** Hotaruuuu~! Ur bk! I heard about the ambush u made on the SCD. Did u reli shoot that guy?

I cracked a smile. My good friend, Dango Yowaki, was staying at another base, so it was awesome that I could talk to her again. She's a medium, and can do all the cool medium stuff like predicting the future or whatever. It wasn't always right, because we make the future depending on our actions (which is why it's called predicting) but she got pretty ticked off whenever I pointed that out so I didn't bother anymore.

**Firefly Girl says: **Yh. It was awesome. You shoulda seen it. Blood everywhere. Riku luked away tho. Wimp.

**Sorry I'm Different says: **Ha! Maaaaan, I luv chu :3

**Firefly Girl says: **Mhm. Same ;)

**Sorry I'm Different says: **Ur a narcissist.

**Firefly Girl says: **I meant you, you dope :P

**Sorry I'm Different says: **So anyway, wat r u gonna do now? U've already freed the Time-Travellers, so there isn't much left 4 u 2 do.

**Firefly Girl says: **Beats me. But we had a new recruit. Her name's Momoka Murakami. She's a human but she's supposedly the toughest of the tough. I don't reli get it. She just sounds like she's talking big to me. Wat do you think?

It was a while before she sent a reply.

**Sorry I'm Different says: **I think you should give her a chance, Hotaru. She may not look it, but she's pretty fierce. I remember I once talked to her back when I was in her part of town. It was before I joined the Agency. She's pretty lonely, although she tries to look "don't-care"ish.

**Firefly Girl says: **Are you serious? She was teasing Rikuto about his height, and she was acting totally racist about me being an alien. I mean, sure, it's okay not to like the Sky Canopy Domain, but what about the other aliens? People like me? I don't reli feel like giving her a chance.

**Sorry I'm Different says: **Do it for me, Hotaru. Pleeeeease?

I frowned stubbornly and shut my laptop, angrily. I didn't see why I had to be friendly to a girl who wasn't even trying to talk to us. If she was willing to join the Agency, why wasn't she willing to communicate? Was she only in it for the fighting? If so, she should've just joined the Sliders instead. It sure would've saved us the trouble of trying to be nice.

I changed into my BlackRock Shooter pyjamas and sat up in my bed, reading a manga, trying to get into it. It wasn't working.

Frustrated and exhausted, I lay back on my bed and stared up at my posters and drawings stuck upon the wall.

"Damn you," I snarled to the picture of Haruhi Suzumiya stuck on my wall. She was the whole reason this war was caused. One of the Aliens from the Sky Canopy Domain stole Haruhi's daughter, hoping that it would cause a radical change to the world, and in Haruhi's anger she ended up destroying one of the puppet masters in the Sky Canopy Domain in such a way it was unable to revive it. Then that sparked off the war.

The Sky Canopy Domain blamed the ESPers and the Time-Travellers for not doing anything to calm her down, seeing as Mikuru Asahina and Rikuto's dad were close to her. Then the Sliders stuck their noses in and stood up for us, telling them to back off, and that it was one of their kind that stole Haruhi's daughter and provoked her in the first place.

And somehow, the whole world just fell apart. It was quite tragic to think that only years before, the whole world had been so silent and peaceful.

**XXX**

**Cha-Cha: Argh! Explanation chapters! And there weren't many highlights in this chapter. =( Ah well. I hope that by chapter four there will be some more moments between them, and maybe Momoka will start warming up to them a bit.**

**Also, Dango made an appearance in this chapter, even if we didn't speak to her face-to-face. Hopefully at some point they'll meet up with her.**

**Mugi: We're really sorry that this took longer than expected to finish, but a load of wacky stuff happened that kind of side-tracked us. Like for instance, our gran got sick, and Cha-Cha got a brace, and we were busy watching Kuroshitsuji 2... Yeah. You get the picture.**

**Rikuto: I'm supposed to be the main character, and I barely featured this episode! Just because this chapter was from Hotaru's POV doesn't mean you had to just abandon me!**

**Cha-Cha: Don't be so selfish! You aren't the only character in this series! Besides, we had to introduce more characters, and explain the plot, and so on. All the annoying stuff. Plus we had to buy a pizza. That was all hard work. You're just lucky you got fed.**

**Hotaru: Thanks for making me the main focus of this chapter. It hasn't happened much yet. Also, guys, if you have any questions you want answered in the next chapter, please review saying so and we'll do our best to include it so that you guys get a full understanding of the plot! :D**

**Kazue: Everyone who reviews gets a hug! ^^**

**Cha-Cha and Mugi: And don't forget to create an OC in our forum to become a part of Silence!**


	4. Chapter 3

**The Very Exciting Authors' Note!**

**Cha-Cha: Hiya guys! It's me, the magnificent Cha-Cha, and I'm bringing you chapter three of Silence!**

**Mugi: And I'm going to contribute to this chapter!**

**Cha-Cha: *clapping* Well done, Mugi. Finally. You've kinda been absorbed in the new K-On! Series, haven't you?**

**Mugi: You betcha!**

**Rikuto: Okay, time to answer all the reviews! *grabs out a cue card written up by Cha-Cha* Starting with Yowaki, on the Prologue!**

**Dango: Hi, Master!**

**Rikuto: Okay, in answer to your review: Thanks for being patient. Don't worry, the story will get much better from now on :D**

"**Drake Nolsa, chapter 2: Neither do I, but some people hate the explainy stuff and want to skip straight to the action. I find I'm kind of a rambly person, so this fic is going to be a challenge, seeing as it's based around fighting and war (not my best genre to write about).**

**Kyon-Is-Haruhi's-Slave00, chapter 2: I sure hope a soldier won't die this chapter! Such scary thoughts! Anyway, glad you liked this chapter! And don't worry, we were only joking about Hiroyuki being dodgy xD**

**Superstarultra, chapter 2: I'm glad you liked this chapter, and I am super happy that the explainy bits gave a good idea of the plot, because explaining is not something that I'm good at x) Please keep supporting it, and remember, if you have an OC idea or anything, please feel free to add him to our story =)**

**Mr Wang 330, chapter 2: I'm glad that the OCs are acting the way most OCs should without being annoying ^^ And I agree that the prologue was pretty random and all, but I based it off of the first episode of Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood where they stop some one-episode character dude from freezing Central, and… yeah. Anyway, I hope that Takeo's ready for a little sis, because that's what he's getting! :D**

**Brendan Rizzo, chapter 2: I didn't recognise you at first because you changed your name. Congratulations! I get a warm feeling when I change my username. It's a fresh start =) I'm sorry that you didn't get who's POV it was at first, but I did try my best to make it sound chatty and Hotaru-ish. That said, I'm still a growing author. I'll work on it. And as for Rikuto's ESP… That'll be revealed in time :] Have patience! PS. I laughed when I heard you thought the IM conversation was funny. I thought it was pretty funny too, even though I wrote it. Maybe I should do an Alternate Endings chapter of IM convos.**

**Yowaki, chapter 2: Erm… I'll look into it when more OCs have joined. Because while it would be funny (there could be some dramatic points, as well as some Hotaru jealousy) thanks to my bonehead move I made Hotaru and Dango friends, and based from her personality, I think that she's a loyal enough friend to put Hotaru's happiness first. We'll keep up the good work!" :D**

**Cha-Cha: Rikuto! Replying to the reviews is MY thing! Not yours. MINE!**

**Rikuto: I'm sorry ¬_¬ Anyway, enjoy the latest chapter.**

**Mugi: No! You forgot about the new OC that's joined us! His name is Joseph, and he was created by Discrimo.**

**Joseph: Hi guys. I'm a human - well, that's what I think - and I'm the peacemaker of the group, I guess. I'm hoping that I can get Rikuto into meditation or something.**

**Rikuto: Do you have a surname yet, Joseph?**

**Joseph: Nope, but hopefully my master will come up with one soon :D**

**Mugi and Cha-Cha: Okay, here's chapter 3! It's going to be from Momoka's POV this time.**

**Mugi: I feel oddly nervous because this'll be the first time I've written from the point of view of an OC that doesn't belong to me or Cha-Cha. :S I hope I don't screw up!**

**Anyway, here's chapter 3! Please leave a review or add an OC in our forum, it'd be greatly appreciated! :D**

**XXX**

**Silence**

This is infuriating. When will this group actually do some fighting? I didn't join so that I could sit around feeling homey (or at least trying to) while we could be winning this war and returning the world to normal. I wasted enough of my life waiting around for an opportunity to put my fighting skills to work.

I glared at the empty plate in front of me. They picked out pizza for supper. I hate pizza.

I know that Hotaru chick doesn't like me, but is it my fault that I pointed the finger for a second? She's an _alien_. Aliens are deeply despised, thanks to the fact that they're all for conquering the world. And now she's ignoring me.

She's the one that I actually _wanted_ to be friends with. I mean, sure, Mr Koizumi's son is… Mr Koizumi's son. He has to be nice to me. He seemed friendly enough, like a dog or something, but I don't like people that are too eager to link arms with you. I really thought, for a second, Hotaru and I could be friends.

No one spoke a word to me throughout the meal, so I was only half-listening. They mentioned time-travelling, and all that. I really didn't care. And then Hotaru left the room.

"U-Um… well." Mr Koizumi's son looked a bit put-out at the awkward silence that had swallowed the room.

"… I'll take the plates in." Mr Koizumi stood up, smiling, and took away our plates. Then he disappeared into the kitchen. When he reappeared, everyone relaxed slightly.

"So, er, Momoka… you'll be in the dorms, like Miss Mori," Mr Koizumi said, trying to brighten the mood. He smiled uneasily, but I could totally tell that he was faking it. Since the war has started, no one has really smiled like they mean it, so I'm pretty sure here is the same.

"I guess," I said, staring at my place-mat.

Mr Koizumi's son gave me a smile that made me want to vomit rainbows and fairy dust.

"Miss Mori's great Miss Murakami, she's brilliant. And she used to work with my dad when he was my age-"

"My name's Momoka."

Koizumi's son blushed and looked down at his empty plate. I felt a slight twinge of satisfaction, but tried not to show it.

"Ah, er, yes, it is. Erm… well, Momoka-"

"Whatever. You bore me. Don't bother talking to me again."

I stood up abruptly, my chair slamming to the ground behind me, and left the room. Though I said I was going, I actually had no idea _where_ I was going to go. I hadn't asked Mr Koizumi where the dorms were, and besides, I had no intention of spending any time there if I could help it. As I walked down winding, dimly lit corridors, I counted things in my head. I'm not crazy, I'm really not. I just like to count things. Nothing wrong with that.

1 - daughter of a goddess, held hostage by alien bastards.

2 - annoying teenagers that just pissed me off.

3 - weeks (about) that I will be able to stay sane in this dump.

4 - doors down is… Hotaru's room?

I stopped then, the echoes of my footsteps fading into the eerie silence. Hotaru's door was a sugar pink, completely clashing with her fiery personality, or so I had seen so far. Maybe she did have a sweet side. I wouldn't know. A small sign hung high on the door, a shiny black oblong with miniscule golden dots scattered aimlessly across it. 'Hotaru' was scribbled though the middle.

I don't know why I was so fascinated with this door. With this _girl_. Since when did _I_, Momoka Murakami, ever bother befriending people? Wasn't it _I _that pointed out that friendships made you weak? Allies made you strong, but if you depended on others too much, you'd be destined to fail. There's no point befriending your comrades in war. It's not worth the pain.

And besides, she's an _alien_. End of.

Hotaru stared at me with eyes that could kill. The door was open now, and I hadn't even realised, I was so deep in thought. I shook my head, in a desperate attempt to regain my dignity, slapping on my pissed off expression once again.

"How long are you going to stand there?"

Hotaru sounded bored out of her mind, blowing on freshly painted nails. This surprised me a little. She didn't seem a girly type at all. Maybe there was more to her than I thought.

"That's none of your business," I snapped, folding my arms. She raised her eyes, which I seriously did not appreciate.

"Whatever pipsqueak. Just curious." Hotaru shrugged, walking back into her room, but leaving her door wide open. I huffed, seriously frustrated, although I wasn't sure why. I bit my tongue, but still called out;

"Hey, you bitch, don't use that tone with me!"

I wanted to storm right in there and knock some sense into her, but I suddenly realised the open door was an invitation. If I took it, she won. Like that was going to happen. I turned on my heel and stomped away (as hard as I could, so she could hear all the way down the corridor).

"…Are you mentally insane? Like, seriously? I heard you muttering to yourself down the corridor. Do you hear voices in your head?"

I turned swiftly, shooting daggers at the pastel pink door.

"…Cause, I mean, no sane person would talk to themselves, or count things out loud- is that why you're here? Are they going to do tests on you? Are you a lab rat?"

Her voice was low now, and her tone had changed; I did not like it one bit. It was as if she were daring me to respond, to see how I'd react. I held my breath, heart racing. She didn't scare me. Of course she didn't. I'm Momoka Murakami. I'm not scared of anything.

"Or are you just lonely? You don't talk to people. You're horrible to everyone you meet. Nobody likes you. So you only have yourself to talk to."

I balled my hands up into fists, feeling my nails dig into the skin.

"Oh! Are you trying to win over Rikuto? You think because you're a loner, he'll take pity on you? You think-?"

She stopped, and I let out a sigh as a shrill bell rang out down the corridor. I ran into Hotaru's room, to find her calmly slipping her laptop into a shiny purple case and flinging it over her shoulder. She picked up a red backpack with the word 'Hotaru' scribbled across in Sharpie and flung a shoulder bag over to me.

"You can carry this," she said with a grimace, "looks like we're moving."

"What?"

Hotaru was already off down the corridor so, reluctantly, I had to follow and get my answers later. But I had a pretty good gist of the situation anyway.

"We're under attack? Wha- How did they find us?"

Hotaru shrugged as we raced down the corridor towards the kitchen, where we'd all eaten together twenty minutes ago. People were pushing past us, yelling orders across the room, the noise ringing in my ears.

"Rikuto? Kazue? Where are you?"

Hotaru scanned the room, her expression pained.

"Mr Koizumi? Mikuru? Anyone?"

I sighed, my breathing shaky, to my frustration, and call out too.

"Mr Koizumi?"

"Rikuto?"

"Mrs Koizumi?"

"Mikuru?"

"Mr Koizumi?"

"Rikuto?"

"Mrs Koizu-"

"Rikuto?"

"WILL YOU SHUT UP ABOUT RIKUTO!"

I shoved Hotaru with all the force I could muster, which is a lot, I must say. She fell down, scraping her knee on the rough stone floor. Her eyes were flaming.

"Oi, you bitch!"

"Come on!"

I pulled her to her feet and we ran, dodging random espers and time travellers and making our way towards the exit.

"The front exit? What, are you nuts? You're actually crazy!"

I ignored Hotaru's acid tones, shoving through the crowd with all my might. I could smell burning.

"S-Smoke! I can smell smoke!"

Hotaru wrinkled her nose and tugged on my hand, changing our direction. Instead of escaping the building, we were heading back inside.

"What are you doing? And you call me crazy!"

"Just trust me!"

I held my breath as we ran down a run-down set of stairs, smoke choking my lungs and stinging my eyes.

"Ho-Hotaru, we're g-getting closer to the fire you- you-"

"TRUST ME!"

Smoke burned my lungs, making me splutter and choke. I was forced to squeeze my eyes shut, simply letting Hotaru guide me blindly through the smog. I couldn't even think until I felt Hotaru grab my shoulders and shake me violently.

"Momoka, open your eyes for gods sake!"

I obliged, raising one eyelid cautiously. We seemed to be in a corridor, not unlike the ones we were just running down, but it was creepily silent. Even our breathing echoed, sending strange sounds echoing around us.

"Where are we?" I asked, rubbing my eyes. Hotaru was breathing heavily too, her eyes darting around, as if expecting something to jump out at her at any second. She grinned uneasily.

"Cupboard under the stairs. It's our ticket outta here. Hopefully, the aliens wont have discovered this route, it takes us all the way to the other side of town, to our second HQ. I want you to go down, out of the way. They should know by now what's happened. Once you get there, ask the first person you see to take you to Dango Yowaki. I need you to pass on this message to her. Tell her-"

"I'm not your servant! Don't tell me what to do!"

I was even surprised at what had just blurted out of my mouth. But it's not like I could just skip over to the other base and relax while everyone there was fighting for their lives.

"I want to fight! That's what I'm here for! You should send that big breasted redhead over there! She's useless! But I'm needed here! And I- I can't just leave you here by yourself! What if you get hurt? Or the aliens find this tunnel? We need to protect it! I can't just leave!"

I expected Hotaru to face palm and complain or shoot something spiteful at me. What I hadn't expected was for her to laugh - not a spiteful laugh, but an actual heartfelt chuckle; she even doubled over.

"Hahahaha! You think you're so important! You think I need _you_ of all people! Hahaha! You're so full of yourself!"

I pout, unsure whether I was happy with her reaction.

"W-what the hell? I'm being serious!"

Hotaru stopped laughing and glared at me.

"Don't be."

She placed the palm of her hand gently on the wall and a sudden rumbling filled the hallway; I covered my head with my arms as a loud crack caused me to believe the ceiling was caving in. I coughed harshly as the dust cleared, showing a neat wall of rock cutting between Hotaru and me. It was smoothed perfectly, like a normal wall, as though it was supposed to be there.

"Hotaru? HOTARU!"

"Right here, dummy."

I could hear her voice faintly behind the solid stone wall.

"Why'd you-?"

"Because," Hotaru butted in loudly, "I knew you'd refuse to follow my orders! So now I've made it impossible for you not to! The only way out of this place is through Second HQ. So go there, okay?"

I punched the wall in anger - how dare she trick me like this! As soon as my fingers connected with the sturdy surface, I heard a scary crunching sound and shrieked in pain, clutching my fist. I hoped it wasn't broken. I could just imagine Hotaru's face if she found out how I did it.

"Okay."

And without waiting for a reply, I slipped my hands into my pockets and prepared for a long, long, _long_ walk.

"Momoka! Tell Dango! Tell her 'I'm going to find her! I promise!'"

I looked back at the plain grey wall, imagining Hotaru slumped against it dramatically and chuckled to myself, taking my first step forwards towards HQ2.

**XXX**

**Mugi: Phew. Dammit, this is terrible! It's horrible! Cha-Cha, you write this chapter!**

**Cha-Cha: No way! I wrote the first two chapters and one prologue, so you have to contribute a bit! It's on your account!**

**Mugi: T_T sniffle! I hate it! You're so much better than me!**

**Rikuto: I was hardly in this chapter, damn you!**

**Kazue: I didn't even get a line! I need a hug! *snuggles Rikuto***

**Rikuto: Ah, mom, get off!**

**Momoka: You were a total bitch in this chapter, Hotaru!**

**Hotaru: *shrugs* Whatever. Anyway, if you like it, you should review, if you don't like it, you should still review. REVIEW BITCH!**

**Mugi: Hotaru! We are open to constructive criticism but no flames please! They make me sad D: Reviews are appreciated, as they make me feel like I'm not just writing to myself. ^^ Oh, and look forward to a LOT of action next chapter. And maybe some deep Mikuru moments too.**

**Cha-Cha: Deep Mikuru? How can this beeeeee? Everyone knows Mikuru's about as shallow as a deflated kiddy pool!**

**Mikuru: Huh? What do you mean?**

**Cha-Cha: Seeeeeee you soon! Hopefully…**

**Mugi: WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?**


	5. Chapter 4

**The Very Exciting Author's Note!**

**Cha-Cha: Hey hey hey! I know you guys missed us! Or, at least, I hope you did. ;) Anyway. Hi to those who are reading this the first time, and to those who are re-reading this… welcome back!**

**Mugi: This fanfic isn't good enough for someone to read through twice, Cha-Cha. You do realise that, right?**

**Cha-Cha: …Shut up.**

**Rikuto: I'm apologising in advance for any rubbish my master might come out with, she's pretty brain-dead because of the homework her mean teachers give her.**

**Cha-Cha: AM NOT!**

**Rikuto: Anyway… onto the reviews! *grabs a cue card***

**Kyon-Is-Haruhi's-Slave00, chapter 4: Erm… thanks? XD**

**Drake Nolsa, chapter 4: I know Momoka's being pretty bitchy at this moment in time, but hopefully she'll grow up as a person in the future ^^ Hope you're enjoying the fic so far.**

**Brendan Rizzo, chapter 4: I guess she is a bit like Haruhi *laughs* Well, me and Mugi are best friends so we often argue over joint fanfic ideas XDDDDDD But we usually compromise before we actually get down to writing a chapter.**

**Mr Wang 330, chapter 4: Yeah, I'm really rubbish at action -_- I absolutely suck, so I have no idea why I let Mugi talk me into doing a war-story with her. Sigh… I'll have to leave all the action up to her. Anyway, thanks for the help with your OCs. I'm really really happy that you submitted them. I really hope that we can toss around more ideas in the future ^^**

**superstarultra, chapter 4: Don't worry. If Mugi doesn't do her share of writing, I'll spank her ;) Joking aside, I'm really glad that you like the Hotaru-Momoka combo. I like it too XD There'll be a lot friction ahead, rest assured.**

**Cha-Cha: Yes, thank you for that, Rikuto. You're such a good OC. Now, bake me a pie before this chapter is over. Okay?**

**Rikuto: Gotcha!**

**Cha-Cha: DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN HARUHI. IF I DID THIS WOULD BE A REAL THING AND EVERYONE WHO CREATED AN OC FOR SILENCE WOULD BE PRETTY FREAKNIG FAMOUS OVER THE INTERNET.**

**Mugi: Hey, you almost forgot about me! Am I not contributing to this chapter?**

**Cha-Cha: Oh! Almost forgot. Mugi's writing most of this chapter! TA-DA!**

**Mugi: Thank you ;)**

**Cha-Cha and Mugi: Thanks for reading, please review ad don't forget to add an OC to Silence via the forum if you're interested!**

**XXX**

**Silence**

!

No. Please no, not today.

I gave a small whimper, which (hopefully) the others didn't hear, and stood up, terrified. Surely that noise couldn't be a good sign. Mr Koizumi stood up, a worried look on his face, while Miss Kazue trembled and grasped his hand.

"Ah, this isn't good. Why now, of all times?" Mr Koizumi's face told us that this was far less than convenient, which I'd kind of grasped already, but his expression confirmed my fears.

"Th-they're really here? They found us?"

I bit my lip; Miss Kazue's usually calm, serene expression had changed to one of hardship and distress. She sighed deeply and tied her dark hair back into twin buns, her eyes becoming focused and serious. Rikuto was tense, eyes flashing around as if he expected to be attacked at any moment. I didn't know where to place myself. The Koizumi family was strong, clever and powerful. And there I was, an add on, unable to do anything. Well. Hardly anything. I reached into my bag and grasped my twin pistols, loading them slowly and carefully. It didn't go unnoticed by Miss Kazue, who's eyes whipped over to me the moment the clicking sound of a loaded gun was produced. I tried to look confident and strong, trembling inside. This was it. Time to show everyone what Mikuru Asahina was made of!

"Okay."

Mr Koizumi stood in front of us all as the siren wailed earnestly, as if to remind us that our lives were now at stake.

"We're under attack, so we need to take all necessary operations. Rikuto, take Miss Asahina to HQ2 - find a way. Just don't let any aliens find it. Kazue, you come with me and help defend the HQ until all the time travellers have escaped. Miss Mori is in charge of that operation, she'll contact you once it's safe and we'll give over. You know we're no match for those aliens. We'll just hold them up. Okay, everyone know what they're doing?"

I nodded, unsure of whether he was addressing me or not, but Miss Kazue looked unsure.

"Itsuki, is this all necessary? I mean, Rikuto's just a boy! This is dangerous! Freeing the time travellers was one thing, but he could get seriously hurt! This isn't practise, it isn't training! The aliens aren't playing a game! This-"

I grasped her hand, surprising myself as well as her.

"Please don't worry," I assured her, pulling out my weapons and giving a tiny smile, "he wont be alone, I'll help in any way I can. I won't let any harm come to him."

Miss Kazue's lips trembled, before a tall man with a scar down his face (I'm guessing he's an ESPer), burst into the room, eyes darting around, then yelled, "Mr Koizumi, sir, we should leave, sir!"

"All right, thank you for notifying us, Joseph." The man ran off. Mr Koizumi shot a determined look towards Miss Kazue.

Miss Kazue looked down and nodded, then rushed forward and hugged Rikuto tightly. She quickly moved onto me then. She was warm and comforting in my arms, but I could feel her body shaking slightly as she squeezed me tightly.

"…I-I just don't want our family ripped apart again."

She smiled at me and waved, before running out of the room with Mr Koizumi. Rikuto and I simply stood there for a few seconds in stunned silence, before springing into action.

"Follow me, Mikuru!" Rikuto called, grabbing my hand.

I felt an odd aching in my heart and nodded.

"Mm!"

I held my pistols tightly and glanced around everywhere, prepared for a surprise ambush. ESPers and time travellers alike rushed past us, shouting things across the corridor, a select few pulling out weapons and preparing for a long, hardwearing battle against Humanoid Interfaces. I noticed we were heading over towards the girls dormitories and quickly voiced my concerns.

"Rikuto, where are we going?"

Rikuto was breathing heavily, hands balled into fists as he ran through the stubborn mob of allies. He didn't answer me, or maybe he hadn't heard me, but I didn't ask again.

We finally came to a halt in front of a pale pink door which, according to the sign, belonged to Hotaru. I held my breath and held my guns carefully, standing guard as Rikuto burst into the redhead's room, glancing around quickly.

"Is she there?"

Rikuto exited the room and shook his head, but choked out, "But her laptop and emergency bag are gone. She's probably escaped. Momoka too. I just wanted… to make sure."

I praised him inside for his dedication to his friends, but I was becoming seriously worried, sure that any time now, we were going to find ourselves in some life or death situation.

"Come on," I pulled on his arm, trying to get him to focus. "Lets get out of here. I'm sure the girls are safe. Now lets leave, please!"

I could hear the despair in my voice and hated it, shaking my head. I took a deep breath, but as soon as I did I regretted it.

"Do you smell… smoke?"

Rikuto looked confused, but then wrinkled his nose, his eyes flashing.

"Shit. Come on, Mikuru, let's-"

A terrible scream was heard echoing around the building, though it seemed to be coming from outside. Rikuto gritted his teeth and grabbed my wrist, pulling me along the corridor and down a set of crumbling stairs. He thrust open a cupboard and pushed me inside, his breathing ragged and uneven.

"M-Mikuru, just… just stay here okay? Until I come back. I- There's something I need to do. I wont be-"

"You're going to go out there?"

I shook my head, disbelieving, grabbing the hem of his shirt tightly.

"You can't! I promised Miss Kazue I'd protect you, and I can't if you just go running off in the midst of a war! You've done your job! Now let me do mine!"

He shook me off, glaring. I felt terrified at how scary his face was.

"Do you not understand, Mikuru? I-I have to go! My parents are out there! And no matter what, I have to be there to help them! They're my family!"

I swallowed the lump in my throat and croaked, "Don't go, Rikuto. Stay here. It's way too dangerous."

"MAKE ME!"

He shoved past me, hiding his eyes behind sandy hair, his face in a grimace.

"Wait, Rikuto!"

He'd already gone. I sat there, clutching my knees, praying this would come to an end soon and he'd come back. They were to young to deal with this. They were kids, no matter how mature they were about handling the situation. At the end of the day, they were still children, and no child should have to fight in a war.

Forget this. I couldn't stand being in this cupboard without Rikuto any longer.

"Rikuto!" I cried, bursting out of the cupboard. I glanced around wildly. He was no where to be found. I'd waited a moment too late.

I'd only been in this place for a couple of days, and I had no way of knowing where he was. Feeling tears pricking my eyes, I ran blindly back up the corridor, pushing through swarms of stubborn ESPers carrying guns.

"Stay away from the scene, miss!" one shouted.

"I need to get through!" I cried desperately. "Please just let me through!" I realised how ridiculous I looked - me, with my frilly little pastel-coloured dress, carrying twin pistols, with my baby face and my short stature - but I didn't care in the slightest right then. I just needed to get to Rikuto, before I let Miss Kazue down.

Once I'd pushed through the crowd, I ran down corridor after corridor. This place was like a maze, and people like me don't do well in mazes. Darn it, where was the exit?

Finally, I saw a familiar hallway. The kitchens! If my co-ordination was correct, down the hallway to the left would be-

"The exit!" I called, my voice coming out as a relieved sob.

I pushed open the doors to a scene of bright skies… the sound of people in pain rang in my ears.

"Look out the way!" I ducked just in time to see an alien being crushed against the wall beside me. I shrank away in fear, feeling my face drain of colour as their body slumped on the floor as they recreated their body-structure. The blood was enough to make any one faint away.

I scanned the battle before me. I saw a few faces I recognised… Mr Keiichi, whom we had first met on an island owned by the Agency, ducking behind a wall while firing his handgun at an unsuspecting alien (the results of which were vile)… Then, I saw a flash of shining green amidst the dark blood stains surrounding.

I stared, open-mouthed. Miss Kazue had just jumped in the air, firing from twin pistols as she did a double-flip in the air and _landed_ _on her feet again_. In her trademark high heels, too.

Her glossy black hair was tied back in buns with little green ribbons, and she was wearing her favourite fuzzy pink sweater and her old worn-down jeans. She had this serious look on her face, eyes glinting dangerously.

In all my life, I had never seen Miss Kazue looking so fierce.

"Miss Kazue!" I called. She looked over in my direction, face flushed with the heat of the battle.

"Mikuru!" she gasped. "What are you doing here? You know it isn't safe here!" I felt tears fill my eyes, but I blinked them back, realising there were more important things at stake.

"Rikuto escaped and I'm sure he came here!" I cried, searching the scene for a glimpse of his face. "I'm so sorry, Miss Kazue, I know I let you down but right now-"

"Mikuru, that doesn't matter right now! We need to find him!" She also looked worried. "I'll get Itsuki. Oh, what if he's hurt? This is all too much!"

I bolted through the crowd, hoping to find either Mr Koizumi or Rikuto. I couldn't find anyone.

"Take this, you damn alien bastards!" I turned around, heart thumping. A flash of gold hair, shining. Everything seemed to go in slow motion at that moment.

"RIKUTO!"

He'd barely turned around before I jumped on him, grabbing his arm.

"Mikuru, what the-? How did you find me?" he demanded. "Hey, you have to let go!"

"No way!" I yelled, surprising myself at how fierce my voice became. "Rikuto, your mom's worried sick about you! We need to get inside, out of the danger! Please!" Suddenly, I felt that familiar sensation and squeezed my eyes shut tightly.

"Wha-?"

Oh, no. Why now?

We stumbled to the side and fell into… shrubbery!

"Whoa! Bushes?" Rikuto gazed about wildly. "Mikuru, what happened?" I blinked, shivering. It was oddly warm, considering it was only march. I looked around me. We were on a soft patch of grass. Surrounding us, teenagers roamed freely, chatting and laughing. I groaned inwardly.

"Oh, no," I wailed. He looked alarmed.

"What? What's wrong?" he asked, eyes wide. I slapped my forehead, feeling dumb.

"I… I'm sorry… M-My…" I hung my head. "… My TPDD was unconsciously activated when I grabbed your arm before."

"What!" he exploded. "But this is really bad, Mikuru! I mean, _really _bad! What are we going to do? Take us back, right now!" I shook my head.

"I would, but… We can't go back there! Not until it's over! Rikuto, we absolutely can't return while the battle's still going on! We can't!"

"Then what are we going to do?" he asked desperately. I looked up above us. A tall and familiar building towered over our heads.

"Well, this is kinda what you wanted, I guess."

"What do you mean?" he asked suspiciously.

"You remember how you and Hotaru wanted to see what normal school-life was like?"

"What are you getting at?"

I gave him a tiny smile. "You're going to have to pretend to be a north high student today, Rikuto."

**XXX**

**Cha-Cha: Ohhhhh, I'm really sorry this chapter is so short! D: I didn't mean for it to be!**

**Mugi: I'm pretty sick at the moment so Cha-Cha took over for be because she was tired of not updating. She thought you guys were going to ditch us if we were on hiatus for too long.**

**Cha-Cha: Did not!**

**Mugi: Did too!**

**Cha-Cha: Did not! Anyway, you should've finished off the chapter already! Now I've had to, and the update's been short.**

**Mugi: Well, I'm SORRY. Okay? I'm practically coughing up a cat here, and all you're worried about is whether or not the chapter's lengthy enough. Some friend.**

**Hotaru: OOOOOH, BURN!**

**Cha-Cha: Where'd you come from? You're not even in this chapter!**

**Rikuto: Knock it off, Hotaru. Let them work out their differences.**

**Cha-Cha: See, Mugi. That's how a good OC behaves.**

**Mugi: Damn you!**

**Cha-Cha: Anywayyyyy… Just saying, but THANK YOU to superstarultra, who promoted our fanfic in his awesome crackfic, You Got HaruhiRolled! :D We really appreciate it, as both friends and fellow fanfickers.**

**Rikuto: Just so we're clear, if you ever need OCs you can use me, Hotaru, Kazue and everyone else's OCs with their permission! That goes for everyone else too! If you ask, we'll be glad to lend OCs - with full credit, of course!**

**Mugi: Thanks for promoting us there, Rikuto.**

**Cha-Cha: Just because you're mad at me doesn't mean you have any right to be stingy with Rikuto.**

**Mugi: Whatever. Don't forget to review and add an OC to the forum to become a part of Silence!**


	6. Chapter 5

**WARNING: STUPIDLY LONG AUTHORS NOTE D8**

**The Very Exciting Authors' Note!**

**Cha-Cha: Back, guys! Sorry that it's taken so long for us to continue. But I've been planning out everything! So, we're going to meet old friends, new friends, enemies, and just plain annoying characters. Hilarity and mind-blowing awesomeness is ensured!**

**Now. Onto the reviewing corner.**

**Mr Wang 330, chapter 4: XDDDD Yesh! I absolutely love Asami, Takeo and Mirai's little sibling relationship. It was hilarious in HaruhiRolled! I hope in future they can meet more often :3 Anyway!**

**I'm glad that you liked Mikuru's POV. Not many people seem to write from Mikuru in a way that makes her seem more than what meets the eye… And I just realised. She should really be more confident, if she's the Big Asahina that Kyon's encountered numerous times. But maybe the war changed time, and moulded her back into the way she used to be. Or! Oh, wait. She's about thirty-forty now, so… uh. *Brain fizzled up and died*.**

**Okay, I promise to message you if I need any help writing action scenes. Also, I'm glad you like the little time-travelling plot device. I'm hoping it'll turn out better than it is in my head right now…**

**Drake Nolsa, chapter 4: I'm so glad to hear that! It's such a relief to know that Silence fans are sticking with us ^_^ And I can't wait to write about North High. It'll be so much fun~!**

**Yowaki, chapter 4: Yesh! I sure hope you like this next instalment, because it'll be quite fun to write about Rikuto and (young) Itsuki's relationship.**

**Brendan Rizzo, chapter 4: Well, I never intended to create a reason for them to be unable to go back (by Mikuru saying "We can't go back!" I was more thinking that if they returned in the middle of the battle they'd be shot dead before they had a chance to take cover). But maybe there is! I'm not sure. I'm kinda mad at myself because Mikuru didn't do all that much that chapter, but she is kind of powerless in this war, especially as the time-travellers have been kept as prisoners for so long. Itsuki and Kazue will probably ground both Rikuto _and_ Mikuru when they get back xD.**

**Superstarultra, chapter 4: Nah, don't worry about it. The fact that you read and reviewed at all is good enough for me! I also can't wait to write about time-travel. It should be different for him to get involved with his parents. I wonder if Kazue's going to try anything with him *sweat drops*. And no, there was no reference, it was pure luck and coincidence! XDDDD**

**AND WOW! The Layman has reviewed every chapter, one after the other! That makes me uber happy! Thank you so much! In answer to all your reviews:**

**I'm glad that you're so caught up in what's going on! As for how long they're going to stay in the past, I'm just not sure yet! I have a basic idea; probably about a day. But the story leads where the story leads. Like, for example, Kazue wasn't created until the last few edits of the prologue, when I decided that single dad Koizumi would be interesting, but it'd be more interesting if he had a snuggly wife to cuddle up with. That kinda thing.**

**Mugi: Cha-Cha, you've taken up most of the authors note! That's so heartless! How could you?**

**Rikuto: Here's that pie I promised you, Cha-Cha! *holds out apple pie***

**Cha-Cha: LOVE TEH APPEL.**

**Mugi: Oh yes! We had three more OCs to join us! Welcome to the stage, Asami Asahina, Kazuma Tengu and Kaoru Inoue! Your one-minute auto-biography starts… now!**

**Asami: Hi, you might know me from HaruhiRolled! I was created by Mr Wang 330, I'm Mikuru's daughter… Not sure about my dad. I bet he wasn't a good one, seeing as he doesn't even have a name or much of a mention yet. I'm gonna take charge of this fic at some point, so you guys better watch your backs!**

**Cha-Cha: Yikes! Y-You can't do that! W-We're the creators! The fic rightfully belongs to us!**

**Mugi: Time's up! Next, please!**

**Kazuma: Hi! I was created by Ultimatewolf! Give me garlic and I'll love your forever 8D**

**Cha-Cha: OMG! We have so much in common! *lives for garlic bread* Hi-five, my man!**

**Kazuma: *answers the high-five with his face***

**Mugi: Er, next!**

**Kaoru: Hi, I was created by The Layman. I was a samurai, but my teacher was killed off during a fierce battle.**

**Cha-Cha: Awww! *bursts into tears* I know the feeling, Kaoru!**

**Mugi: How?**

**Cha-Cha: M-M-My English teacher retired, and she was one of my favourite teachers. She had great dress-sense!**

**Mugi: *sweat drops* Anyway, please leave a review and submit an OC to become a part of Silence!**

**XXX**

**Silence**

_Oh my god._

I stared at my reflection, eyes wide. I was wearing a white shirt, teal blazer, maroon tie and some brown pants. The North High uniform felt so wrong on my body. I wasn't cut out for school life.

"You look great!" Mikuru said. I sighed, unsure. Mikuru sounded so enthusiastic, I couldn't help but wonder if she was secretly happy we'd returned to the past, even though we would be getting an earful from Mom and Dad when we got back.

"I don't know… I don't think I was built for school uniform," I said, nervously. She smiled reassuringly.

"Don't worry, you'll be fine. But you'll need a name." I stared at her blankly.

"What?"

"A name, an alias. You'll need one if you ever need to time-travel again." I looked out of the window at the pan of sky visible. Sky? Sora? Then I got it. Blue. Simple enough.

"Aoi. My name's going to be Aoi Ichidome." A look of sudden realisation dawned on her face for a moment, but then she giggled.

"Sounds great! Suits your handsome face." I scratched my head sheepishly.

"So what do I do now?" I asked. She pointed to the classroom nearest me. Class 2-7.

"After homeroom, join the class and sit at the desk by the door. That's the only seat you can sit in. The desk nearest the door. After school, meet me at North High again at 6, okay?"

As I was about to protest, kids slowly began milling out of their classrooms and she pushed me into Classroom 2-7.

"One last thing!" I turned around. She was waving. "Don't do _anything _which could cause trouble in the future!"

"You think I don't know tha-!" Someone elbowed me into the classroom. In defeat, I dropped my bag down on my desk.

I sat down by the door anxiously, drumming my fingers on the desk. While I was waiting for the classes to start I stared around the room.

There was a large chalkboard at the front of the classroom. There was one like this at the base. Dad sometimes used it to map out battle plans, and that kind of things. And there were loads of desks too. Quite a big class. And tons of textbooks on shelves in the corner of the room. Huh. I guess I'd be failing school. I can barely read, so you know.

"I see." I looked up, startled. Someone strikingly familiar was smiling at me.

"Huh?"

"The transfer student. I believe you are the new transfer student? Well, we were told you were transferring in tomorrow." I began to sweat nervously.

"U-Um, no. I'm… well, I, uh… I changed classes."

"Oh, I see. Well, it's nice you meet you. Your name?"

"Koi- er, I mean, Ichidome. Aoi Ichidome." He smiled. I stared. My dad, Itsuki Koizumi, an 18 year old high school student, smiling at me with that carefree expression of his.

"I sit in the desk behind. I hope we can get along and be good fellow classmates." Without saying another word, he sat down at the desk behind and started setting out his things.

"E-Er…" I racked my brains for a question that normal high schoolers asked each other in any of Hotaru's mangas I borrowed when I had time to kill. "W-Well… Wh-Who's your girl?" He blinked.

"My… girl?"

"Y-Your girlfriend," I said hurriedly, face flooding with red. "I… I mean, do you have a girlfriend or anything?"

"Oh, I see. Yes, I do have a girlfriend. She's from Kouyouen Academy. Her name is Kazue Matsuda." _Mom!_

"A-Ah… I see." I felt my heartbeat quicken. They knew each other this far back? "Er… that's great. What's she like?"

"What's she like?" Dad stroked his chin. "Hmm… She's charming." He cracked a smile. "She's not the most normal of girls out there. Unique would be the most appropriate word."

"U-Uh, how come?" I asked. Hearing about my mom from this kind of perspective definitely wasn't the usual way I heard stories of their youth.

"Well… she's quite eccentric. Very energetic, light-hearted, cheerful. Just an all-round interesting person. She's beautiful too." He smiled. "You should come meet me and a few friends tonight."

"Um… Sure!" At that moment, our homeroom teacher entered the room and the room quietened down considerably. He didn't notice my presence, and I was glad. I didn't want to create any trouble by inserting myself into this time plane at random.

XXX

The bell's shrill ring was drowned out by my grumbling stomach, begging for food. I was _starving_. It was understandable - I hadn't slept or eaten in twelve hours and trying to write English when you can't even write _Japanese_ just makes the day seem longer. Desperate to eat _something,_ I dashed out of the room as the lesson ended to try find a vending machine or something.

It was only a while later I realised I actually had no money on me anyway.

I held my growling stomach and dropped my head face-first on the tabletop. It was nice out in the courtyard, feeling the cool air on my skin, but it wasn't enough to disguise my hunger. I wish I'd stayed with Dad and stolen some of his bento.

"Are you okay? Do you need to see the nurse?"

I perked up at that voice and blinked. The girl looked vaguely concerned and strikingly beautiful, pushing tiny glasses up on her face. She seemed to be thinking about something else and probably didn't care about the answer I was about to give, but I gave one anyway.

"No, I'm not ill. Just really, really hungry. I forgot my money."

The girl rolled her eyes.

"Of course you did. Here, have some of my bento. My mom is an amazing cook and taught me everything I know. But in return, you'll have to tell me what the hell you're doing here."

I blinked and pouted, but my stomach spoke for me, and before I could stop myself, I was chowing down on perfectly made egg rolls and telling this girl everything I knew.

"I will personally _kill_ Mikuru! She _knows_ she's not supposed to come back here anymore! It's way too risky-!"

I swallowed a mouthful of spring roll and sighed.

"Asami-"

"That's Asahina to you, Rikuto! You need to show me some damn respect! I've got enough to do already without you screwing things up! _You're _not supposed to be here either! Oh, I will _kill _Mikuru!"

I shrugged and started on the pickled vegetables. Asami and I had been friends (and I use that term in the loosest aspect) since we were very small - we'd grown up together. She was Mikuru's daughter, but when Mikuru had disappeared, Mom had instantly taken Asami under her wing. Of course, there was a four year age gap, and Asami was nineteen by now, so she'd always thought herself better than me. Even now, she was at the top of her game, with a rank level to (or maybe even higher than) Dad's and had hundreds of men at her control.

…At least I didn't throw up on stage in middle school.

I'd long given up on caring about Asami's opinion; I never seemed to do anything right in her eyes. She refused to acknowledge the fact we'd once played hide and seek in the garden and instead chose to enforce the fact that she was older than me, better looking than me, more intelligent than me, a higher rank than me…

She was gorgeous, I have to admit, with milky skin and perfectly trimmed auburn hair barely touching her shoulders, cut with scarily perfect precision. No need to say, she was a perfectionist.

Her beauty didn't faze me anymore. Her cute exterior had no effect on me anymore. I know she's not as perfect as she lets on.

"I really don't know what I'm going to do with you, Rikuto! You're not a time-traveller, you-"

"You think I don't know how risky this is?" I stared at Asami and put down my chopsticks, "You really are thick. I'm not a child! I know about the do's and don'ts of time travel!"

"Hey!" Asami was fuming, "Don't talk to me like that! You are in _so_ much trouble when we get home. I have business to do here, but as soon as I'm finished, we're going home. Oh, you are _so _dead!"

She seemed to marvel at my misfortune. I simply shrugged and couldn't care less. Asami my have power, but she certainly didn't have my undying respect.

"Anyway, Asami… did you hear about the ambush?" she nodded.

"Yes. Congratulations on freeing the time-travellers. My thanks is on my mother's behalf, and my mother's behalf only." I cracked a smile at that comment.

"But Asami, I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about right now! The aliens attacked us earlier today. Well, at about sevenish. Anyway, Asami, you've got to go back to your HQ so that everyone can get through the tunnel. Did you forget that there's a lock on the door?"

"Of course I didn't forget! How could I, Asami Asahina, the head of HQ 3? And, an attack? On HQ 2? This is the worst thing that could happen! I'm here for a reason, you know, and I can't keep nipping back to open the door. Get Hotaru to open it. I mean, she's an alien, she can do that stuff, right?"

"Well, yeah, I would, but I'm here. Or did that slip your mind?"

"Don't be so disrespectful!" Asami snapped, face burning. She gets flustered when things don't go her way. "I'll find a way to get back, or contact someone to do that job for me. But for now, eat up your lunch and don't ask any more questions!"

XXX

The day had come to a close nicely, without too much drama about "transferring classes" and whatnot. Fortunately, we had a supply for maths, which was the last lesson of the day, so it saved confusion, as, naturally, she wouldn't know a single face in the class.

Asami was still frowning at me when I left the lunch table as the bell rang, but I pretended not to notice her. I wish she'd just realise already that she can't control me just because of the power and control she has.

"Come with me." I followed Dad outside, where there were people milling about everywhere. I spied the bush me and Mikuru had fallen into and glared at it, as if it was its fault. Which then made me wonder, where had Mikuru wandered off to? It's not like she was young enough to masquerade as a student, or anything. Maybe Asami had finally gotten a hold of her. Speaking of which, just what in the heck was Asami doing here, anyway? Honestly, if she was getting mad because we were in the past, what made her think it was okay for her to be here? I mean, we were the ones in the middle of the war here.

"Where are we going, anyway?" I asked. Dad turned around.

"We're going to meet up with Kazue and a few other of my friends," he grinned. I stared. I _did_ look just like Dad did. No wonder Mikuru got confused when we first met.

He led me into town, where a coffee shop was waiting for us. Dad pushed open the front door and led me past bustling school kids over to a table, where I recognised a strangely familiar face. Mikuru was sat opposite, smiling timidly at Dad's entrance.

"Mr Koizumi…" She trailed off as she stared over his shoulder at me. "…Um…"

"Itsuki~!" I blinked. She threw her arms round Dad, a blissful look on her face. Then she broke apart from him and grinned at me, eyes bright and twinkling. There stood my mom, her inky hair tied back into two wild braids with green ribbon.

"This is my girlfriend, Aoi. Kazue Matsuda."

"Hiya!" she gabbled, shaking my hand quickly. "Call me Kazue! It's nice to meet any of my guy's friends! If you have a phone, give it me and I'll tap in my number!" She spied one sticking out of my make-do schoolbag and grabbed it.

Now I could see why Dad described her as "eccentric" and "unique". He grinned a little awkwardly and then motioned towards the rest of the group sat down.

"This is Mikuru Asahina," he said, motioning to Mikuru. She smiled and waved a little shyly.

"H-Hi," she giggled. I waved back.

"This is Kyon," he continued. A guy with dark hair and a bored-out-of-his-mind expression glared at Dad.

"I have a name, you know, feel free to use it any time," he said sarcastically. "Hey."

"This is Yuki Nagato." I held my breath. A great alien, some people had said about her. So great, in fact, Hotaru had been given similarities to her when being created. A beautiful girl with a short, slightly scruffy mop of hair and an expressionless face looked up from the book she was reading, stared at me with glassy eyes and then looked down.

"… I see." she said, without much expression in her voice. I tried not to be disappointed by her lack of friendliness. "Kyon" looked over, seemingly alarmed, and mumbled something to her I couldn't quite catch.

"And this is the leader of our group, Haruhi Suzumiya," Dad finished, smiling in her direction. My throat clenched and suddenly I couldn't speak, or breathe. This was Haruhi Suzumiya, the girl who had the godly powers, the reason that I was an ESPer, the reason this whole war happened.

And she looked completely ordinary too. Beautiful, I'll admit to that. Beautiful creamy skin, shining eyes, and beautiful dark hair adorned with a yellow headband and ribbons. I couldn't believe it was this girl that had done so much to our lives.

"Hi!" she grinned. "My name's Haruhi Suzumiya, I'm the chief of the SOS Brigade. If you're interested in joining, you should! I mean, with the exception of Kazue, no one new has joined, which stinks, because now we only have six members. Six members isn't enough to keep a club going without the Student Council Bastard on our cases like we're smuggling heroin out of the country or something!" she stopped her rant and sucked some soda from a straw. "Anyway, what's your name? And sit down, while you're at it."

I took a seat, still stunned.

"M-My name's Aoi Ichidome. But you can just call me Aoi."

"Right! Mysterious name! Have you ever met an alien?"

You'd be surprised.

"Hmm… Not that I can think of." I feigned deep thought, which only made her more excited.

"Hey, I like you! You seem to contribute way more than Kyon. If you join the SOS Brigade, maybe you can become a Medium or something!" I thought of Dango and tried hard not to laugh.

"Anyway, what'd you like to drink?" "Kyon" asked wearily. "I'm probably paying for them, anyway."

"Er, black coffee please," I said, avoiding eye contact. He nodded and held up a hand for a waitress.

"Hey, Maehara!" A brunette with scruffy pigtails and dark eyes came over. She was in a waitress uniform. "One black coffee, please."

"Coming right up," she giggled, disappearing into the kitchens. Wow. She was pretty.

"That's Mizuki Okajima. She was part of North High's light music club, ENOZ, back when we were freshmen, so she talks to us pretty often when we order from here because Haruhi and Nagato filled in for them when two of the members were unable to play," Kyon explained. I nodded, wondering how much of that information my brain had actually soaked up.

"What's the time?" I asked. Dad looked at his watch.

"It's quarter to six," he said. Crap!

"Dammit… I gotta go," I said quickly. They blinked.

"Uh… okay," Dad said, looking slightly hurt. "I guess we'll see you around then, Aoi." I nodded**.**

I was just about to leave when Mom called out, "Wait!"

I turned around to see she was holding out my cell phone with a sheepish look on her face.

"Here's your cell back. Call me some time, okay?" she said, smiling. I smiled back and took it gratefully, squeezing it tightly to stop myself from crying.

"Thanks, Kazue." I waved to them, catching Mikuru's eye. She was waving, and looked slightly sad-eyed.

I then turned around and left hurriedly, towards the school once again, my eyes blurry. I finally stopped at the gates, panting, crouching down, with a tearing stitch in my side.

I reached for my phone. I had to call Mom. I had to call them. I had to tell them I wasn't coming back. I fumbled around, finding her number in my phone book, punching the call button, holding it to my ear.

_We're sorry, this person isn't available right now…_

It felt like someone had shot me down. Mom and Dad and Mikuru and the other three were probably sat in that booth, laughing, chatting, oblivious to the fact that I'd be here one day and gone the next. Oblivious that I was trying to call them, to tell them I was leaving and how I'd miss them, and they weren't even thinking about me enough to just turn on a cell phone.

My heart ached at that thought. Mom and Dad didn't care about me in the past, and they didn't even know where I was in the future.

I sighed, wrapping my arms round my knees, shivering. It was starting to get dark.

"Riku- I mean, Aoi!" I looked up. Mikuru was running towards me, her face flushed. She bent over once she reached me, gasping.

"I'm sorry… I didn't… come sooner…" she panted.

"I-It's okay," I said, rubbing my eyes to erase any evidence I had been close to tears while she was catching her breath. Once she caught her breath finally she smiled weakly.

"Come on. It's time to go back." As she held my hands I felt that horrible lurching feeling as we were whisked away by the powers of the TPDD and were dropped back down on the streets in town.

As we fell to the ground I staggered and tripped over, falling forward on my stomach. I groaned and lay still for a second, winded. The next, I sat up.

I looked around wildly. I'd only been running down these streets a few minutes ago. Only then, of course, they were filled with happy people.

"The shop!" I scrambled to my feet and ran ahead, past the houses and stores, searching for that one door, that one door with the school kids swarming inside and those warm, friendly people sat at the booth in the corner…

"Rikuto!" Mikuru yelled desperately, running after me.

My feet came to a halt. I stared at the coffee shop - or at least, what it used to be. The windows were smashed in. It was dark and empty. There wasn't a cheerful face in between the dusty and torn booths.

What I loved about that place, in the short time I stayed in there… I leaned against the door, shoulders shaking.

"Rikuto…!" Mikuru watched me, with that same sad-eyed look she'd given me as a high school student only ten minutes ago. "Rikuto…" this time her tone was softer, sadder.

"… This war's ruined everything, Mikuru," I said, struggling to keep from crying. "In the coffee shop, I had so much fun then… I wish I had had the opportunity to take the path you did, Mikuru. A place where everyone watched from afar, timid to take action but still living a peaceful life, where war was such a small, meaningless word in the back of your mind…"

She sat down next to me, hugging her knees, resting her chin on her hands.

"Rikuto…"

"This is the first time I've cried since what happened to Mr Arakawa," I mumbled, putting on my baseball cap to hide my face. "I was sitting on the sidewalk like this, too."

"But Hotaru was with you?" Mikuru said softly. I nodded.

"You're nothing like Hotaru was, Mikuru," I whispered. "…Hotaru didn't stick around long enough to sit down, before she pulled me to my feet and ran down to the sweet shop." I sank down further, until my face was actually resting on my knees. "Maybe that was for the best."

**XXX**

**Cha-Cha: Gah, talk about a depressing chapter! O.O We never even planned half of that, either!**

**I actually wrote the depressing bit while listening to Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop by Landon Pigg for the forty-eighth time in a row. It's an amazingly sad and sweet song. YOUTUBE IT! YOU WON'T BE DISAPPOINTED!**

**Rikuto: *blows nose in baseball cap* That scene you wrote about me! It! Was! So! Beautiful!**

**Cha-Cha: D'aww, really? Thanks ^/ / / / / /^**

**Ah well. Next chapter things will focus on the ambush again, and maybe possibly how things are going for Momoka again? Or Hotaru?**

**I know! YOU guys pick. Because right now, I could see the story going anywhere 8D So review to tell me who you think the next chapter should focus on. Even the characters that already existed, like Koizumi!**

**Also, at some point, if you guys want to, you can have a go at writing a chapter and PMing it me over Fanfiction and I can make a few edits before uploading it? Because at this point, the story can go anywhere, so anything can happen! (within boundaries, of course. Like, no pots of gold raining from the sky!)**

**Hotaru: VOTE FOR HOTARU, BITCHES!**

**Cha-Cha: Hotaru, no!**

**Cha-Cha and Rikuto: Okay, review, favourite, author alert, story alert AND add an OC for Silence and we'll send you a pedobear absolutely free!**


	7. Chapter 6

**Warning: Insanely long 8D But will contain review replies so if you reviewed you might want to read on. If not… well, just skip to the story!**

**The Very Exciting Author's Note!**

**Cha-Cha: Hi! If you're reading this, I'm seriously considering whether you took your medication today 8D Because you'd have to be crazy to read all of this bullshit!**

**Mugi: You can't say that! People will stop reading it if you keep putting us down like that!**

**Cha-Cha: Relax, Mugi! Okay, the results of the Who's POV Should We Write For Next? Contest! (if it could be counted as a contest?)**

**The most popular member of Silence turned out to be Momoka Murakami, created by Trying Too Hard To Be Cool, with a grand total of *DRUMROLL*… 2 votes! :D**

**Momoka: Oh my god, guys, thank you. This gives me another chance to bitch about Hotaru without killing the plot of the chapter 'cause it'll be inside my head!**

**Kazue: *sniff* I didn't *sniff* get a single vote… I haven't even had a chapter to myself yet!**

**Cha-Cha: Oh, come on, Kazue! You made a big impression in the last chapter. Your younger self appeared to be more popular than you are now! *bursts out laughing***

**Kazue: *sob* It's not funny!**

**Itsuki: Aww, come here, my little Kazu-Kazu! *gives hug***

**Rikuto: *shielding eyes* EWWW!**

**Cha-Cha: Anyway! Time to answer the reviews!**

**Brendan Rizzo, Chapter 5: Thanks! Yeah, Rikuto was just a little fluff-ball of angst, wasn't he? XD Mugi wrote the bit with Asami, but all will be revealed in later chapters! *taps nose knowingly*. And I agree, we've kind of neglected Momoka =( Well, keep reading! ^-^**

**Drake Nolsa, Chapter 5: XD Don't worry! We've already got a good idea where and when Jack/Snake's going to fit in. Sadly, it won't be for a few more chapters, because he's going to appear after this big ambush has slowed down a bit. Probably about chapter eight or ten. Chapter twelve at the latest. Anyway! Keep reading/supporting Silence ^-^ I'm really looking forward to your super-nice reviews every time!**

**SonoAsahina, chapter 5: Erm… thanks? I guess?**

**The Layman, chapter 5: LMAO. XD Thanks for pointing that out! But I wuv those little bundles of creep~**

**Mai Sachiyuki, chapter 5: Thanks! We love your OC, by the way. She's so cool! And her eyes are different colours! Ehehe~ 8D**

**Superstarultra, chapter 5: Oh, don't worry about it! O: Just reviewing at all is good enough for me! And I'm glad you like Asami's appearance. She's more fun than I expected to work with xD And we have a special place for Takeo all planned out. Don't worry, he's very important. 8D**

**Yeah, I was trying hard to get the feeling across that this fanfic isn't all humour, or completely dramatic war either. I like small, calm, sad parts of stories, which is why there will be QUITE A FEW! 8DDDD I'm so glad that we always get a positive review from you, Super. X3 It feels really nice reading your reviews because they're always so nice! So THANK YOU!**

**Mr Wang 330, chapter 5: Ah, I was wondering when you were going to review XD And I'm glad you find the chapters interesting.**

**Now. Asami. XD I'm SUPER glad that you thought we portrayed her right, because I was a little anxious to how you would react to her appearance *sweats* And the little personality trait we fitted in really seemed to appeal to you, it seems. WHICH IS GOOD! 8D And I'm thinking that Asami has a significant reason that Rikuto can't know about, a bit like Big Mikuru and Kyon's encounters? Hmm… It'll be resolved in later chapters!**

**Rikuto: And now, it's time for the next chapter of Silence! Here is your cue to grab your popcorn.**

**Mugi: And remember to submit a review and an OC to become a part of Silence! Please? :3**

**XXX**

**Silence**

I sat down on the steps, sighing. This was ridiculous. Hotaru had sent me to walk down this route in the dark to take to some chick called Dango Yowaki, and now I was sat in the darkness on doorsteps to a small front door, waiting for someone to open up. I'd been pounding my fist (the one that wasn't practically broken) against the door for the last fifteen minutes, but no one had bothered coming down to open the door for me.

This was just so… unfair. I'd wanted to come and fight, not be a stupid messenger pigeon for Hotaru, flitting back and forth between bases to pass on messages to people who weren't even polite enough to open the door. I was a warrior. A short, young warrior, but a warrior nonetheless. So she shouldn't have treated me like a child! I was only a year younger than them! So annoying!

I kicked the wall angrily, even though I knew it wouldn't do anything except stub my toes. Did that make me childish? Not even having the decency to think constructively for a few hours without kicking the wall and throwing a tantrum?

I blew a raspberry. If I was as childish as I felt right now, I'd need a lot more training before having the nerve to ignore Hotaru and run onto the battlefield with a samurai sword.

I sighed. This would take a while.

I sunk down further, chin on my knees.

How had I even gotten here, anyway? Why were kids like me, Rikuto, Dango and even that meanie Hotaru having to go through all this? All the wars in the books that I used to read when I was a kid were only for grown-ups. The kids stayed home and helped out with the housework and shit, while the grown-ups were off fighting and defending us all.

I shivered. It was plain now that whoever was in charge of this base wouldn't stop by any time soon to open up the door for me. So, without anything better to do, I prepared for a looooong nap.

**XXX**

_I was orphaned when I was only small due to a train crash that took my parents lives, and caused my older brother to lose an arm, and spend months in a special hospital up north. I can't remember my parents faces, but that's okay. I had my Master to look up to. Before I met him I was sad and lonely, and pretty much living on the streets and watching the world go by, envying each person who walked past me holding onto their mom or dad's hands and laughing._

_Then Master found me. He was just passing by, like everyone else, but instead of carrying on he stopped, and turned to look at me. I gave him my fiercest stare to show him that he was in deep shit if he was willing to mess with me, but he knelt down next to me and gazed right into my eyes._

"_What's your name?" He asked seriously. I shied away from him, trying to show him that he wasn't fooling me with his caring eyes._

"_Momoka," I snapped. "What's it to you?" He just laughed._

"_Momoka's a cute name, for a cute girl like you. My name's Yasu, but not many people call me that. I'm more well-known as… Master."_

"_Why are you talking to me?" I asked, clenching my fists. "Don't you have somewhere else to go?" He nodded._

"_I do." I was about ready to boil over._

"_W-Well, just go there right now, why don't you? Leave me alone!"_

"_I have somewhere to go, Momoka," he said softly. "But I want to return home with a cute, lonely little girl who needs someone to take care of her. I didn't set out just to go back home, you know." I stared._

"_You… You want to take care of… me?" He reached over to gently touch my grimy face and smiled._

"_Uh huh."_

"_B-But… I'm… dirty!" I said, shocked._

"_I don't care," he replied. "Momoka, no matter how dirty or poor someone is, no one deserves to be alone and uncared for. If you don't realise that now, I, at least, want to teach you those things." I slowly stood up, flexing my grubby toes._

"…_Master…" He grinned and took my hand in his._

"_Come on, Momo honey. Lets go home."_

_I loved Master, as if he was my own Father. He trained me in the martial arts, and took care of me as if I was his own. Since he'd taken me home, everything that I had hoped for seemed possible._

"_Master! Master!" I called, racing up to greet him. He grinned at me and ruffled my hair._

"_Momo honey, how are you today?" He asked me. I hopped on my feet, feeling bubbly and excited._

"_I'm ecstatic!" I exclaimed, waving my arms around wildly. I quivered with joy. "My brother's coming home tomorrow! He's going to take a look at my pictures I've painted and he's coming to the park with me and we're going to eat ice-cream and have a picnic and we're going to see the monkeys at the zoo and fall asleep watching ninja films!" He laughed._

"_Wow, you sure have a lot of things planned. But have you remembered to work on your training too?" I nodded fiercely._

"_Of course I have! I beat up a big boy in the 6__th__ grade yesterday cause he took my money! I got it back though," I added._

"_A little girl shouldn't fight people unless it's necessary, you know," he grinned. "Especially if you're fighting a guy who's bigger than you. Ever tried negotiating once in a while?"_

"_I can't help the way I am," I said, pouting. "The boys are all so big and mean anyway. I haven't done anything to them, but they just take my money off me before I've even had the chance to run away. I don't even talk to them normally. But that's okay. Cause I whipped their butts!" He cracked a smile._

"_Ah, Momo honey. You're a card." He clapped his hands together. "Momo honey, don't ever change the way you are now, you got that?" I looked up, as he patted my head. "Because when you're as perky as you are today, I'm plenty happy just seeing your face. It's a cute face at that, too. So don't change a bit, okay?"_

_Those words Master spoke really broke into my heart. I wanted to be that way forever. I truly did. It's hard to stay the same, though, when the whole world's changing around you. Especially after _that _day._

"_Hey, Master! Where are you?" I cried, running through the hallways. I knew that after this latest attack the Aliens were probably after any survivor, but I couldn't care less at that moment. I just had to find Master. I had to._

"_Maste- …eh…? M… Master…?" I felt all the colour drain from my face as I pushed open the door of the old gym. The roof had completely caved in, leaving debris scattered over the floor. I knew all too well that if anywhere, Sensei would be here._

"_Hey… Master… Hey, come on… Master…?" I fell to my knees and began searching through the rubble, clawing at it with my hands, which were already cut and beginning to bleed. My heart was too numb to even notice at first. I just needed to find Sensei._

"_Please, Master! Come on, please, don't hide! Just… Just come out…" It was then that I felt something which gave me a glimmer of hope._

_A hand._

"_M… Master…? Master!" I grabbed his hand and pulled, hard. What I found next, I could never forget._

_His face, covered in blood. A panicked look on his face, his eyes haunted when I prised them open. I began to shake, panic and fear overtaking my body._

"… _Master…?" I felt tears run down my face. "No, no, no, no, no…" One look, just one more look, was all it took. I brought my hands up to my head and began to scream. I felt like I would never stop, like an evil spirit had yanked my heart off it's chains and was toying with it, making my heart ache and my soul cry out for help._

_I could never forget it._

I wasn't cut out for blood, gore and violence. The old me wasn't, at least. But I realised at some point that I needed to be awakened to this new world as a new person. So it started with cutting my hair.

I woke up one morning, when I was twelve. I decided that training was needed, and to do that long hair pinned back with prissy little hair clips wouldn't be an option. So I rummaged around in my cupboards for a pair of scissors and chopped it all off.

I don't consider it to be a great loss. Hair barely weighs a thing, and it grows back easily after a while, anyway. But the fact that I was twelve, flat-chested and had a scruffy page-boy cut made me look like a boy, which I was NOT impressed with. At all.

But everyone has to make sacrifices, right? It's how we get to where we are today. So I brushed the thought aside and simply decided, _Okay, I just won't look in a mirror until it's grown a bit_. And I carried on.

I trained in the mountains, away from all the harem-scarem of the war. I'd seen enough blood to last a life-time. I worked hard, didn't give myself nearly enough breaks as Sensei would've, ate good foods filled with iron and protein, and trained so hard my legs could've fallen off. But it was all worth it. Because they found me, and they saved me.

"_Hey there." I looked up. A beautiful lady with glossy dark hair and a gentle smile gazed down at me._

"_Um… Hi." I replied, taking a bite out of an apple. Since the Sky Canopy Domain had made an attack on the city, I'd been currently left homeless, so I was sitting around on the streets before finding shelter for the night. "Er… How can I help you?"_

"_Oh, well, I heard that the famous Momoka Murakami lived in this town, so I travelled up north just to see you!" I stared._

"_Hold on… you knew I was here? Who spilled?" I demanded. "I mean, I haven't travelled all that much, so…!"_

"_Aha! Well, I have my resources." She winked, then crouched down so that she was level with me. "In fact, a man came to see me a while ago. He was slowly regaining the ability to walk." I tensed. "We talked a bit, and he happened to mention his adorable little sister who was training in the next town."_

"_My brother talked to you?" I cried. "Well, where is he now? I have to see him again!"_

"_Now, now," the woman said, smiling gently. "So, Miss Momoka… I heard that you lost someone dear to you a few years ago." I dropped my gaze to my shoes._

"_Yeah… I lost my Master."_

"_Well… Would you be interested in joining a force to stop this war from happening?"_

"_Eh?"_

"_Well… I'm a part of this group. We joined to try and bring peace to this world. Because I have a son, just like you, who I've dreamt about a lot. About what I want him to be when he grows up, how handsome he'll be, how adorable he'll look with a wife and family by his side, how many grandchildren he'll give me… But while this war is happening, it's hard to see a future at all for anyone. So we're fighting for the sake of you all, and the future of our planet."_

"… _Well. I guess that, well, I guess that makes sense."_

"_Uh-huh. We could really use with your help, sweetie. How about it? A group of people, of any race or appearance, personality or interests, that'll be in the same situation as you. A warm roof over your head every night. Three meals a day, and comfortable quarters to stay in when we're not plotting an attack or go on missions. People of all ages to communicate with. We'll become one big, happy family one day." I couldn't help but smile at that._

"_That's something short of remarkable, your hopes and dreams for a brighter future. Admirable, too." I nodded slowly. "I… I guess I will. Join you, that is." I squeezed my arm, feeling foolish. "And… I'm allowed to be myself, in this place, aren't I?"_

"_Yourself…?" She then smiled. "Of course, Momoka. Now… My name's Kazue. Shall we return home? Tomorrow morning is when you'll be recruited."_

"…Hey! Hey, there's a girl down here!" My head jerked as I was nudged by someone's grubby trainer. I picked my head up from my knees groggily and turned my head to face the attacker, grouchy. I blinked.

"Hey… Huh? You're… Dango?"

**XXX**

**Cha-Cha: Ooooooh! DRAMA!**

**We talked things over with TTHTBC (Momoka's master, Ruby-chan) when this chapter was discussed. She came up with the ideas for Momoka's master, big brother and, in fact, most of her past. So THANK YOU for your help, Ruby-chan! ^^**

**Now, once this ambush is over (about two more chapters, I think), we'll really start heading towards a new point in the story. Should be fun! X3**

**Momoka: See you then. I'll be waiting for your sympathy reviews… Oh, yeah. Don't forget to submit an OC to Silence, too.**

**Cha-Cha and Mugi: We'll see ya then!**


	8. Chapter 7

**Warning: Insanely long 8D But will contain review replies so if you reviewed you might want to read on. If not… well, just skip to the story!**

**The Very Exciting Author's Note!**

**Cha-Cha: Welcome to Silence, the only fanfic that'll keep your favourite TV dance shows running! 8D**

**Mugi: Er… what? *whispers* Somebody's getting a little cuckoo in the brain~**

**Cha-Cha: …Shuddup.**

**Rikuto: Er, well, anyway… Now, we're onto the reviewing corner, and all that jazz.**

**Drake Nolsa, chapter 6: I'm glad that you're supporting Momoka fully. She could really use it, what with the tragic death of her Master and the fact that Hotaru wants to shove her off a cliff, and all that… Yes, please be patient. Snake/Jack will come in soon enough ;D We completely have his story planned out. He'll appear in a more light-hearted chapter, more like a filler(?), but don't worry, he'll get his share of fighting and pummelling the crap out of people. Also, Nagato's been gone for the story so far, but she's a'comin' back in soon enough. DON'T WORRY! 8D**

**Mai Sachiyuki, chapter 6: Thanks ^^ Glad you're interested in the story!**

**Brendan Rizzo, chapter 6: Yea, I noticed that DX See, TTHTBC (Ruby-chan) and I were discussing ideas. She actually wanted to call him Sensei but then I argued that no honorifics had really been used in this fanfic (see, that's why her Master called her Momo Honey instead of Momo-chan) so I went back and changed all of the "Sensei's" into "Master's" after we came to an agreement that we'd go with Master cause it sounds sexy. However, I must've missed a couple somewhere. My bad. Also, Momoka's Master will hopefully come back into the story somewhere along the way. We just have to find a place for him.**

**Really? I've never watched/read Evangelion before, so I don't really know much about Asuka. Is that a good thing? =3**

**superstarultra, chapter 6: Holy canoly, that was DEEP! :O I'm so happy that it made you feel that way x3 I tried to think deeply… But I'm not too good at that kind of thing, so I'm relieved I could kinda pull off the whole flashback thing without a bunch of flames. Cause usually my flashback stories SUCK, with a capital everything.**

**Villains? OF COURSE! Yes, no one's really submitted any villains yet (Yo' scared? XD) so we'd be glad to accept an OC from you some day! ^^ PS. KAZUE LUVS CHU TOO!**

**The Layman, chapter 6: Ahaha! Happy Christmahanakwanzaka to you too! (Even though it's 4 months late now D: ) XD And OKAY! I'll work on keeping the chapters up to date regularly…**

**Yowaki, chapter 6: Yaay! Kazue's happy now, cause someone voted for her! XD**

**And yes, we were really heading for the angst with Momoka, although I'm not sure whether or not it was more dramatic than the scene with Rikuto at the end of Chapter 5. Hmm… I'll leave it up to you guys to give Momoka's dramatic scene a rating out of ten! XD Well, cause you liked it so much, maybe in a future chapter we'll dive into her past some more. Or maybe, just maybe, I can convince Ruby-chan to write up Momoka's past as a separate fic for herself *giggles slyly* I've been pestering her to put more fanfics up!**

**And now, for the famous 5-second intros from our newly added OC cast! Eric Di Scarlatta, Mitsuzu Amiya and Eri Masaki!**

**Eric: Hey there! I'm a girl, in case you were wondering - human girl to be more specific. I was created by Franny ze Omega :D It's nice to meet you.**

**Mitsuzu: Hey there! My name's Mitsuzu Amiya, but please call me Amiya! I'm an ESPer girl and I was created by Mai Sachiyuki! I hope we all get along great! =)**

**Cha-Cha: OHH, YOU'RE SO CUTE! *glomps***

**Eri: Hey! Wassup pepo'! The name's Eri. I was created by Drake Nolsa, and I'm distantly acquainted with Jack BD I also have weapons! *brandishes***

**Everyone else: *cowers away***

**Cha-Cha and Mugi: OKAY! PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW IF YOU LIKE/HATE OUR FIC, AND IF YOU WANT, POST AN OC TO BECOME A PART OF SILENCE!**

**XXX**

**Silence**

I dived behind a wall, breathing hard. These aliens weren't making it easy for us - not that I ever imagined they would do. But I couldn't care less about that right now. Rikuto had ran into the midst of the battlefield, unprotected - there was no saying he hadn't already been killed…

No.

Rikuto would be the last person to go running into the middle of a bloody fight without anything but his fists. I taught him to never go unless he had to. But still I couldn't stop this feeling of guilt weighing down on my heart.

I'm Rikuto's mother. Of all people, it should be _me_ who takes care of him. And yet, even now, I can't seem to look after him or protect him like a mother should.

It reminded me of the time when the Gene was invented. The Cynosure Gene, the one Gene that could possibly bring back the powers of the ESPers… and Rikuto was our Guinea-Pig. I didn't want to hand him over to the scientists, but somehow, Itsuki changed my mind.

I should've hated him for that. I should've kept Rikuto away from them, because he was my baby and I let those scientists grab hold of him like an animal and inject vile experimental concoctions into his body like a parasite. He would lie on a gurney for days looking lifeless as the genes took effect, and I watched how much pain he was going through, crying himself to sleep silently each night because of the fever he constantly had as his immune system fought for him.

I should've left, walked out, ended it with Itsuki, taken my baby away and never looked back. But I didn't.

I suppose I should be ashamed for that. But I loved him too much.

"_Is this… the right thing?" I had once asked him tearfully, squeezing Rikuto's tiny hand. We had been stood at Rikuto's bedside, as his fever was worse then usual and his health deteriorating as a rapid pace. Itsuki sighed painfully, but shook his head._

"_I honestly don't know. The last thing I ever wanted to do was this, Kazue… But if it's for his future, it's the best we can do." I blinked through my tears dumbly._

"_I hate it, though," I'd moaned. "Rikuto's so weak. He's had weak health since he was born, Itsuki, can't you see this is killing him?" He lifted a hand and wiped my tears._

"_Kazue… I love Rikuto. He's my son, and my pride. But this is all for him. We're going to have to take risks, but we're doing this so that the war can end sooner or later." He'd hugged me tightly and I'd nodded, tears rolling down my cheeks._

"_I just don't want him to die," I'd wailed, taking fistfuls of his shirt._

"_Neither do I. But this isn't for much longer. With the exception of today, the guys in the lab say that he's been doing really well. At this rate, the Gene will be complete within the next month. And then… things will start to get a lot better."_

I thought I'd regret everything. And, true enough, I regret a lot of decisions I've made in my life. But I don't want to change them. Because if I did, I'm pretty sure Rikuto would've gotten himself killed a long time ago.

"This bull is gonna be wrapped up tonight!" I yelled, dashing out from behind the wall and aiming my gun at an alien's head. I pulled the trigger and in a flash droplets of blood flew at my face and the body staggered to the ground.

I whistled in triumph and stared at satisfaction at the alien. Once I'd shot right through the centre of it's head I'd instantly damaged the data link, thus blowing up the entity from the inside and destroying it's link to it's physical body.

It sounded really smartass put like that, but looked kinda gory once it'd been done.

I looked around, then stared, horrified, as I noticed Miss Mori crouched behind several other guards, face unnaturally pale and a spike protruding from her arm. A dark bloodstain on her clothing was slowly widening.

I let a small sob escape my lips as I rushed to her side. She had cold sweat on her forehead and was breathing shallowly.

"Miss Mori!" I cried, crashing to my knees next to her. "What happened?"

"They disarmed me…" she gasped. It was taking so much effort for her even to speak now. "…I couldn't stop them…" She leaned her head against my shoulder, a tear escaping her closed eyelids. "…I'm so sorry, Miss Kazue…" I shook my head, disbelieving.

"No, Miss Mori, hang in there! We can help you!" My voice came out high-pitched and panicky. "W-We just have to pull out the spear…!" She winced as she moved away from me.

"It's no use. I'll lose too much blood when it's out. You won't be able to stop it."

"But… But we have to try something!" My voice came out in a sob, blood rushing in my ears. I couldn't make sense of it. I had to do something. But what could I do?

"I'm going to get Itsuki," I said quickly, standing up. She nodded weakly.

I ran through crowds of our allies, pushing past them, calling out his name. I couldn't find him anywhere.

"Itsuki… Itsuki… _Itsuki_!" I shouted, tears filling up my eyes. "Itsuki, where are you…? Hey, Itsuki… _Itsuki_!"

"_Mom_?" I turned around. Rikuto was charging through the crowd, Mikuru in tow, face panicked. "What's going on? I saw a huge crowd of soldiers over there and I-"

"_Rikuto_!" I flung myself at him, crying. "Rikuto, I've been so worried, and… Oh my _god_, Rikuto, you have to help me… No, not me… Miss _Mori_… Oh my god, I can't help her by myself," I sobbed.

"Mom, take me to where she is," Rikuto said, his fingernails digging into my shoulders. I sensed urgency in his voice and snapped back to attention.

Blurry-eyed, I staggered through the crowd, pointing with a shaking finger to where Miss Mori was kneeling, holding onto her arm and shaking. Mikuru clapped a hand to her mouth in shock.

"Oh my…!" Rikuto fell to his knees beside her.

"Miss Mori, are you all right?" he asked urgently. She shook her head.

"I'm… losing a lot of blood, you know…?" She whispered, white-faced. He bent closer.

"We have to get this spear out," he said turning to face me. His eyes flashed with determination.

"But we _can't_," I said, my voice rising in a panic. "Miss Mori will bleed to death!"

"T-To _death_?" squeaked Mikuru, looking frightened. "Th-That's terrible!"

"But we have to do something," he replied. "Mikuru… go to Hotaru's room. She has a first aid kit under her bed in case of an emergency."

"Okay, I'll be as fast as I can!" She ran off in direction of the front entrance, stopping to plead with some of the more stubborn sub-ordinates posted at the doors to stop aliens from getting to our research.

After what seemed like an age of begging, she was finally allowed in and raced through the doors.

I grabbed Miss Mori's hand. Her eyelids were fluttering slightly, and her breathing became more and more shallow.

"She's fading fast," he said. "But don't worry, Mom, she'll be fine. I know so." I let a tear slip down my cheek and squeezed her hand.

"Rikuto… what happened to you and Mikuru? Where did you go? I was really worried about you…"

"You'll get mad if you know where I went," he sighed. I frowned. I didn't like the sound of that. "But don't worry," he added quickly, "I'm fine. Completely."

"I wish you'd talk to me more, Rikuto," I said, sighing heavily. "I feel like we've been really distant lately. I honestly love you so much… you're everything to me. And… well…" I bit my lip. "…You don't hate me, do you?" He looked up, confused.

"What? Hate you?" He frowned. "Of _course_ I don't hate you, Mom! What are you talking about?"

"I'm sorry," I said, tears running down my face. "It's just… Well, with all that's happening, I-"

"Get down!" someone called. I pushed Rikuto's head down as a gunshot rang out. I watched in horror as it skimmed over the top of his head and into the wall behind us.

I stood up, holding up my twin pistols. I clenched my teeth and tightened my grip. I had to protect Rikuto now.

"You aliens have some nerve," I growled. "TO DARE SHOOT AT MY SON!"

I jumped up and shot at them with my pistols. They were taken out and more of the members of the Agency came to watch my back. Rikuto looked alarmed, but I fell to the floor again and put a hand on Miss Mori's shoulder.

"You're going to be all right," I whispered, leaning inwards and giving her a kiss on her cheek. "Everything's going to be fine, Miss Mori, please trust me on that."

"I have the first aid kit!" Mikuru called, running over to us hurriedly. Her face was bright red and she was puffing - I guess she'd ran around the whole building trying to remember which room was Hotaru's. I gripped Miss Mori's hand.

"Mom, I'm going to go and find Dad," Rikuto said, standing up. I shook my head.

"No, Rikuto, you're only a kid, you can't go out there-!"

"If I don't Miss Mori will die!" he yelled, dashing out into the crowd of people. I began to shake, squeezing my hands together. I hoped to God he wouldn't die that night.

I looked around me. It was one in the morning now, and the sky was a dark purple colour. The ambush was only about half over tops - they usually lasted six hours or more. I could barely see, but I knew that it was starting to rain.

"Don't worry about a thing, Miss Mori," I whispered raggedly.

"Miss Kazue… I'm so, _so _sorry… I was so stupid…" Miss Mori groaned, lifting a trembling hand to her temple. "I should've been more careful…"

"Shh, you'd better save your energy," I said, trying to keep my voice steady. "R-Rikuto will be back soon, and we'll help you… okay?"

"Is there anything I can do?" asked Mikuru timidly. I shook my head.

"We don't have anything that'll be helpful until we pull the spear out. There's nothing we can do right now."

"DON'T CALL ME GINGER, YOU ASSHOLE!" I recognised that voice. I turned around to see Hotaru stamping on an alien's head. "AND DON'T GO AROUND KICKING GIRLS, EITHER! WHAT ARE YOU, SOME KIND OF EGGHEAD?"

She scraped blood off her shoes on the grass and turned around, looking slightly frazzled. I realised that look anywhere. It was her typical "Is this freaking fight over yet? I wanna go watch some Soul Eater" face.

"Hotaru!" She looked up and ran over to me.

"Hey Kazue! What's going on?" she asked, wide-eyed. She glanced at Miss Mori and her mouth fell open. "What the hell happened?"

"There's no time to explain," I said desperately. "Please, can you look for Rikuto? He went to find Itsuki, and I… I don't know where he's gone! I'm so worried!"

I bit back my own anxious tears. I knew I shouldn't be so frightened - it wasn't like ambushes were anything new to us. But still, the thought that he didn't even have any weapons on him anymore…

Hotaru looked uncomfortable, but nodded.

"All right, all right! I'll go see if I can find him! Just make sure you have yourself covered, got it? I want you to make me and Rikuto some hot chocolate after this whole ordeal is over!"

I nodded, smiling gratefully, and watched her turn and run away into the crowd, her gorgeous auburn hair swinging out behind her. I noted she'd tied up her hair into a loose ponytail to keep it out of her face, and was still wearing her pyjamas. I stifled a laugh, despite my gnawing worry. With all those bloodstains, I figured I'd probably have to buy her a new pair.

I couldn't help my mind straying once again to the pasts of my children… even if Hotaru wasn't biologically my daughter, having raised her since we found her, she was the closest thing to a daughter I'd ever known.

I remember that day as clear as anything, when Itsuki brought her home, holding a small girl with dusty red hair in his arms. I'd been out buying supplies at the time, so I dropped a packet of biscuits I'd been unloading from the shopping bags in shock as he'd burst through the door. The little girl was unconscious so I was completely stunned.

_"Wh…What's going on?" I cried. He looked up at me, something glinting in his eyes._

_"This is the newest creation of the Sky Canopy Domain - Zuki." I stared. The newest interface they'd created was… a child?_

_"But how did you find her?" I asked, eyes never leaving the small girl in his arms. He sighed heavily, looking at the unresponsive child in his arms._

_"They left her behind when we raided. It turns out she isn't all that they'd dreamed for." He showed me the girl. She… was sleeping? "She can sleep, eat, feel… she's an artificial human. Everything's real about her… except her physical structure. She's data, completely… and yet she can do everything and more that a human can - including the ability to age, something aliens have lacked since they were first created."_

_"That's incredible," I breathed. "But why did they leave her behind?" He frowned._

_"I'm guessing it was because she seemed too advanced - and, with her human-like traits - likely to turn against them as time progressed. They were probably hoping she would be destroyed in the rush."_

_"But she wasn't," I said, my voice suddenly choked up. I didn't even care that she was an alien. In fact, screw that she was an alien. No child deserved being left behind._

_"We have to give her a name." He looked up._

_"Huh?"_

_"We have to give her a name," I said determinedly. "She's a child, just like Rikuto. We should raise her, Itsuki. We need to teach her the good of the world. In the hope that she'll stick by us. Plus, Rikuto would get lonely without a friend to hang around with. Since Asami left, he's been kinda lonely."_

_I crouched down and stroked her hair. Her eyes fluttered open as I did so. I flinched. I hadn't meant to wake her up._

_"Um, hi, sweetie," I said softly. She looked around, eyes wider then anything I'd ever seen before. They were a gorgeous amber colour - it reminded me of tree sap. She turned her head this way and that, until finally focusing on us two._

_"… Zu…ki…" She weakly raised a hand and pointed her index finger at herself._

_"Uh huh. Your unit name was Zuki. But that's a bit… basic. Don't you think, Itsuki?" He nodded, swallowing._

_"Yes. We need to give her a new name. A beautiful name, for a girl as cute as she is." He looked at me, and I knew in that instant what name he wanted to choose._

_"Hotaru," I said as he opened his mouth. He cracked a grin._

_"…You know me too well." She looked up at us, wide-eyed._

_"Hota…ru…?" I nodded, smiling softly._

_"Uh huh. Do you like it?" She took this into serious consideration for a few moments, before nodding. I let a relieved smile cross my face._

_"Hotaru… Welcome to the Agency."_

As Mori let out a whimper I snapped back to attention.

"J-Just hold on, Miss Mori. Mr Koizumi will be back soon."

Mikuru wiped the tears from her eyes and sat down beside Miss Mori, caressing her hand gently. Her eyes softened as she stroked Miss Mori's hair, humming quietly.

"I've never been good in situations like this. Miss Mori, do you remember when Asami broke her leg when she was nine? I've just had the strangest sense of déjà vu. Miss Kazue was here, too, and Takeo had just run off to find Mr Koizumi to help her. And I just sat here, next to her, stroking her hand, and I told her a story. I don't remember what it was, but it took her mind off things. I told her how brave she was being, and after that, she didn't cry once, even when Mr Koizumi had to stretch out her leg and put it in a splint. She was so brave, my little girl. You're being very brave too, Miss Mori."

I smiled, eyes filling with tears. Mikuru was doing what she had done all those years ago with her own daughter. Miss Mori gave a weak smile.

"And after that… she recovered, right? She's done well, Asami Asahina. When… When I recover, I will go to HQ3.… and I will fight for her."

Mikuru nodded, tears escaping her eyes and running down her ivory cheeks.

"She'd like that."

"Kazue! KAZUE!"

I spun round to the sound of my dear husband's voice, and hope filled me, forcing me to smile widely.

"Itsuki! Oh Itsuki, what can we do?" I cried, as Rikuto and Hotaru followed, their eyes wide with fear. My hands were now coated in Miss Mori's blood, and I quickly wiped them on my jeans, feeling sick. Itsuki studied Miss Mori for a moment, before nodding and pulling a bandage from the first aid kit.

"If Miss Mori has any chance of survival, we have to make a ring bandage. Kazue, Mikuru, wrap this bandage around the spear, but don't put any pressure on it. We don't want Miss Mori to suffer any more than she has to."

I nodded, hurriedly grabbing the bandage from his hands and handing the other end to Mikuru. I held the protruding length of the spear tightly, careful not to move it, as Mikuru helped me surround the wound with white gauze, which slowly but surely dyed a deep red. Koizumi grabbed the top end of the spear once we had secured it, but he shook his head.

"Hotaru. I need you to use that power you've been working on."

Hotaru's eyes shot wide open, like a deer caught in headlights. I'd never seen her look so scared. Rikuto looked thoroughly confused.

"New power? Wha-?" Hotaru stopped him mid-sentence, her voice cracking.

"I-I've been working… working on healing powers… but Koizumi, it's never worked once! I don't even know if it's possible, I-"

"Please."

Itsuki's face was a mask, a calm, solemn mask, but I could see the cracks. Miss Mori was a good friend of his, one of his only original ESPer friends left alive, and I knew he'd do anything to save her. I nodded at Hotaru, who took a deep breath and placed her hands on Miss Mori's side. I grabbed Mori's other hand tightly, closing my eyes.

"On three," I heard Itsuki say, his voice a little too high.

"One."

I felt Rikuto tense behind me, putting a gentle hand on the arch of Hotaru's back.

"Two."

Miss Mori's hand was shaking violently, and I could hear her quiet sobs.

"THREE!"

A gut wrenching scream filled the air as droplets of blood fell like rainfall on our faces, Itsuki wielding the spear in the air like a sword. Hotaru screwed up her eyes, and I could see the sweat trickling down her face. Behind her, I could hear the resistance failing; any minute now, we would be surrounded by aliens with no way to fight back-

With a flash of auburn hair and dirty sneakers, Mikuru and Rikuto were up on their feet, dashing towards the scene, pistols clenched firmly in their hands.

"RIKUTO!"

I wrenched my eyes away from my little boy, as Miss Mori moaned in agony, blood pooling by my feet. Hotaru shook her head, her eyes snapping open.

"Hotaru, move! It's not working!" Itsuki sounded panicked, as he tried to push Hotaru aside, but she shook his arm off.

"I've almost got it!"

But I knew Miss Mori was going to die. There was no way, with a loss of this amount of blood, even sealing the wound would be enough, right?

I made the decision in an instant. Whether this would be one I could be proud of, I wasn't sure, as I lunged at Hotaru, pushing her aside. Itsuki ran forward and bandaged the wound tightly, hurriedly scooping a now unconscious Miss Mori up bridal-style and running into the distance. I wiped my brow, overwhelmed, as Hotaru cried, curling up in a ball on the floor. I patted her back, gently, hushing her like a child, wiping the mud from her face and the blood from her hair. She was my child, my daughter, and I couldn't bear to see her in such a state. Her lips trembled as she looked at me, look of failure upon her face.

After five long, painful hours of not knowing, of sitting and crying and not being able to do anything, there was a ceasefire. The rain poured down on us, as I held Hotaru's hand and we stood before our home. The smoke billowed up in a mushroom cloud and ash mixed with the rain, making it cloudy like milk. I squeezed Hotaru's hand, as I realised that, no matter what the outcome of the battle was, whether we lost or won, we'd lost our home, our life, our safety.

All this, all these people dead, and for what?

Little Miss Suzumiya.

It just didn't seem right.

"Mom?" I turned around. Rikuto grabbed my hand, watching as the base burned, crackling and smoking.

"…Hey, Rikuto." I gave him a weary smile. "It's been a long day, huh?"

"You said it," he said, sighing. "I think I left half of my clothes in my room… Shame. The shirt you brought me last week was in there." I gritted my teeth."Well, there's not much we can do about it now. I guess we're gonna have to go elsewhere now that our base has been destroyed, right?" He nodded and watched, dazed, as the smoke filled the sky.

"Yeah. It won't be the same, though." He ducked his head. "First a mission and then an ambush - all within the space of two days! They're really restless, aren't they? The aliens." His voice cracked as he said that. I squeezed his hand, tears springing to my eyes too as the heat of the flames breezed past us.

"…Yeah."

"I'm really gonna miss this home, Mom." He took his hand away and scrubbed at his eyes furiously, pulling down his hat further forward to hide his face. I felt my shoulders shaking and I ducked my head too, the tears threatening to fall.

"Me too, Rikuto."

-End of Part One-

**XXX**

**Cha-Cha and Mugi: So, this is the end to our Ambush Arc, people! I know it was kind of short, but WHATEVER! Okay, obviously there will be some aftermath (such as, "what the hell happened to Momoka?" and "where are they going to live?" and "when will the canon characters return?" and stuff) tying up any loose ends, and then we'll be onto the next arc! Hoopla!**

**Also, applaud Mugi for that really gory spear-pulling scene - it was sick, right! 8'D And also, to superstarultra for your support while I've been writing the chapter! I know it's been ages since it was last updated, and we're both REALLY sorry for that!**

**We really hope that you guys enjoyed this chapter and look forward to the next arc - The Mountain Arc! ^^ Rest reassured, many more OCs will be introduced, and two canon characters you both know and love *cough cough* PROTAGONISTS *cough*!**

**Cha-Cha: ANYWAY, PLEASE LEAVE AN OC TO BECOME A PART OF SILENCE! ^_^**

**Mugi: And… er… well, don't forget to leave a review. *shifty eyes***


	9. Chapter 8

**Warning: Insanely long 8D But will contain review replies so if you reviewed you might want to read on. If not… well, just skip to the story!**

**The Very Exciting Author's Note!**

**Mugi: Hey there people! It's nice to see you guys again! :D Silence is back once again, and now we're one step away from the second arc - I'm so excited!**

**Cha-Cha: *feigning shock* Wait a sec - I thought last chapter was the final chapter in the Ambush Arc! :O**

**Mugi: Well, yes ^^'' But… Well… There had to be some aftermath, okay? I mean, how else will the readers know what happened to Momoka, and how Mori is coping, and all that shit? I mean… Jeez! It's not exactly like we can just announce it at the start of the next chapter: "Okay, in case you guys didn't know" - Which of course, they WOULDN'T - "they blah blah blah Momoka blah blah blah Mori's chicken tendons blah blah blah END. AND SO THE STORY CONTINUES." Can we? That'd only irritate people!**

**Cha-Cha: Ahh, whatever. Anyway, on with the review replies.**

**Superstarultra, chapter 7: Ahh, we're glad you liked it! The gore scene was… Well, DAT WAS EPIC SHIT, ne? XD Aww, I love Mugi…**

**Anyway, yes, thank you for the lovely review, and thank you for supporting us! :')**

**Kyon-is-Haruhi's-Slave00, chapter 7: Ahaha, thanks? XD Hopefully, the wait wasn't too long this time around?**

**Mugi: Drake Nolsa, chapter 8: Yikes! *cowers behind Cha-Cha* P-Please leave my ovaries alone, N-N-Nolsa-sama! *cries* Haha, we're glad you liked the chapter, and I hope the wait wasn't as long as it was last time…**

**Mr Wang 330, chapter 7: Er, yeah… About that… Er, we're not all that good when it comes to all this detailed fighting, and whatever (which kinda sucks, cause this is a war-story…), so we're doing the best we can, but it still probably isn't as good as it could be D: And don't worry, all about Takeo will be revealed in good time *taps nose* Thank you for your support, too. We actually have a few things to ask you about concerning Asami for later chapters, so we'll PM you about that (:**

**The Layman, chapter 7: Haha, happy belated-belated Easter to you too :D And I say belated twice cause it's even more belated… It's June… D:**

**Brendan Rizzo, chapter 7: I'm glad you like our portrayal of Kazue ^_^ That's exactly as we tried to make her come across as, so I'm glad you picked up on it =) Well, as it will be explained in later chapters, there's a lot less of the original ESPers left now, so the new generation of ESPers had to come from somewhere, right? Also, we're not really experts on that kind of thing, so… Well, as this is a fan fiction, plot twists can be around every corner! 8D**

**All will be revealed, so thanks for the lovely reviews, guys! Also, this is a completely random shout-out, but thank you to our mom for giving us a ton of information about how to stop Mori's bleeding! 8D As she is a nurse, she was a big help during the time we were writing that scene. Even though she won't read this, I just wanted to say thanks :')**

**Cha-Cha: Aaaaand, now it's time to introduce the newest additions to our OC cast! Hiesuke Tsuyoshi and Elena Morina, your five-second intros start… NOW!**

**Hiesuke Tsuyoshi: I have no time for these foolish readers. I'll make their deaths slow and painful.**

**Mugi: *hides***

**Elena: H-Hello… *shyly* My name is Elena, and my codename is Dark Soul- *transforms into DS* Haha, sup people! The name's Dark Soul. Want my number? You'll - have - to - earn - it ~!**

**Cha-Cha: *weirded-out* O~kay, well, review if ya want, and submit an OC to become a part of Silence! :D**

**XXX**

**Silence**

"Here," I said, passing a mug of hot chocolate to Rikuto. He looked up and smiled tiredly.

"Thanks, Dango." I nodded and sat down on the floor beside him. Something seemed a lot different about him, although I couldn't place a finger on what it was. Something about his eyes. They seemed filled with a sadness and aftershock I couldn't even begin to describe.

This war wasn't right. Especially not for kids like us.

Mr Koizumi was pacing, brow furrowed and face a sickly white I didn't like the look of _at all_, while Miss Kazue was gently playing with Hotaru's hair, braiding it into tiny braids in random places. She seemed a lot calmer then Mr Koizumi, like she'd run out of energy.

Hotaru was on her phone, even though I could tell from the way her face was glistening with tear-tracks that she was clearly hurt by the events of tonight.

Momoka was asleep in the other room, while Asami was stood against the wall with her arms folded, murmuring to herself, her eyes burning with a lust for revenge. She glanced at her mother sat in an armchair asleep and glared.

To be honest, I couldn't argue against that look - Miss Mikuru shouldn't have been in any state to sleep. Not while Miss Mori was in the condition that she was.

"I still can't believe this is happening," Rikuto said, as he had been every ten minutes for the past three hours.

"Well, believe it, baby," I said, sighing heavily. "This is reality. Get used to it." He bit his lower lip and said nothing. Instantly I felt guilty.

I shouldn't have been so blunt with Rikuto, because I was feeling just as shook up as he did, but… I don't know. I guess I just felt like we all had the same thoughts without him blurting it out randomly.

Looking around, everybody looked awful; Mr Koizumi was pale as a sheet and his fringe stuck damply to his forehead, Miss Kazue was calm but her eyes held an exhausted, if not almost haunted look, Hotaru was blubbing away shamelessly, Rikuto seemed shaky and broken-up, Asami was absolutely furious and Miss Mikuru seemed so tired she'd curled up almost immediately.

These people were seriously out of shape.

"…I hope everything's going to be all right…" Miss Kazue murmured, tying up another minute braid in Hotaru's hair. I shivered, as if the atmosphere had turned the room to ice.

This silence was scaring me. The occasional comment made by Rikuto or Miss Kazue was all that was keeping the room by being swallowed by it. That, and the odd whimper from behind the door where Miss Mori was resting.

I was vaguely aware of Rikuto's breath hot on my face and turned to face him, his eyes shining with a faint trace of hope.

"Dango, you… You can't _see_ anything, can you? I mean, Miss Mori's going to be okay right?"

I shook my head sadly.

"It doesn't work like that, sweetie. I don't ask for the predictions. They just happen randomly. I'm not a TV; I can't tune into whatever I want."

Rikuto's fist tightened and he slumped back against the wall.

"But if you knew anything, you'd tell us, right?"

I nodded.

"Sure thing, hun."

I looked up as Mr Koizumi grunted loudly, slamming his fist against the wall with full force; I swear I heard something crunch. Rikuto looked up, eyes filled with an emotion I didn't see in him all that often anymore; for a moment he looked like a frightened child.

"D-Dad?" He stopped hugging his knees to his chest and stood up so suddenly he spilt some of his hot chocolate down his front. Mr Koizumi seemed to barely hear him, and instead punched the wall again, head falling forward so I couldn't see what kind of face he was making.

Maybe that was for the best.

"I-Itsuki!" Miss Kazue stood up and rushed towards him, holding onto his arm, confusion and fear written all over her face. He shrugged her off angrily, and it was then that I knew the Mr Koizumi we knew had momentarily disappeared. He'd been replaced by just a single emotion. Rage.

"This is all insane!" He yelled. "Insane, absolutely insane! Miss Mori didn't deserve any of this, you hear me? She didn't deserve any of this! She was absolutely amazing, and to think that any of this happened when I was supposed to be keeping everybody safe… THIS IS ALL MY DAMN FAULT!" He raised his fist again, and Rikuto clung onto it fearfully, fighting his father's strength like his life depended on it.

"I SHOULD'VE DIED! IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN ME WHO GOT HURT, NOT HER! SHE DESERVED BETTER THEN THAT!"

"You're way out of line," Asami said firmly, stepping in between Rikuto and Mr Koizumi. She pushed him up against the wall. I had to hand it to her. She can be really damn strong when she wants to be.

Mr Koizumi's eyes widened, as if she'd slapped him, and suddenly everything came flooding back. He stood there, eyes wide and unblinking as they began to overflow, salty teardrops threatening to fall, clinging to his eyelashes. He ground his teeth together as his head fell, shoulders shaking with wracking sobs.

"DAMMIT!" he choked, hiding his face in his hands, completely broken. Miss Kazue began to cry too, loud wails that echoed across the room and the sound of her voice so heartbroken brought tears to my eyes. Asami's lip trembled for a brief moment, before she composed herself, slapping Mr Koizumi's arm with full force.

"Get a hold of yourself, you idiot! No leader lets him or herself go like this, even if things get to their worst! Man up!"

Her face softened then, releasing her grip on Mr Koizumi's arm and backing away slightly.

"Keep yourself together, if not for you, then at least for your family."

My gaze involuntarily flickered from Miss Kazue, who was bawling her eyes out, to Rikuto, white-faced and shivering violently.

"You need a break, Itsuki Koizumi. Relax, clear your head."

At that moment, I instantly knew exactly what Asami wanted to know. It's strange, my premonitions. I don't _see_, I _know_ things. Thoughts just pop into my head. And right now, this particular thought seemed pretty useful.

"U-Um, I'm sorry to interrupt…" Asami turned around to look at me. "B-But… I, uh, I just had a premonition." Rikuto spun round to face me, eyes wild.

"W-Was it about Miss Mori? Is she okay?" he cried. I shook my head.

"N-No, it's not about that. Um, could I maybe take Asami to the side f-for a moment?"

Hotaru glanced up at me, her eyes red and puffy from crying. I felt bad that I couldn't cheer her up, but she'd refused to speak to anybody since she arrived. Asami simply raised an eyebrow, obviously not impressed that I'd interrupted her lecture, but walked towards me, taking my arm and leading me out into the corridor. I could hear Miss Kazue murmuring to Mr Koizumi, her voice shaking.

"Well?"

Asami stood facing me, arms crossed tightly over her chest, her face impatient. I knew what she was thinking; usually, I'm sad to say, my premonitions were not all that useful, although I still had a duty to tell Asami everything I predicted. Throughout the week, she often discovered what somebody, somewhere, was having for tea that night, or that it would rain in seven weeks. She didn't look hopeful.

"I, er…" I began, trying to get my words out right; my voice was still rusty from the hours of silence, "I think that… The, er, the Suzumiya's will be arriving at HQ4 sometime soon."

Asami's other eyebrow shot up now, giving her a look of complete surprise. She unfolded her arms, letting them fall to her hips.

"You're sure?"

"Pretty sure."

Asami's face came out in a smile, eyes shining.

"Perfect," she whispered, "In the morning, I'll let Sayuri know that she'll have some visitors. Dango, can you contact Takeo tomorrow? He should probably know about this."

She turned to leave, her hair swishing perfectly as she made her way back into the room. I followed meekly.

The Koizumi family were knelt on the floor, Miss Kazue resting her head on Mr Koizumi's shoulder. The rest of the room were just staring, some crying. Miss Mikuru was wiping her eyes blearily, still half asleep, but sensing the tense atmosphere.

"Koizumi." Mr Koizumi, Miss Kazue and Rikuto all looked up. Asami stood with her arms folded. "You're going on a vacation. To HQ4, to be more precise. Besides, I can't let you crash here more then a night. My spare rooms are already taken." They sat, blinking dumbly, their traces of thoughts still on the "vacation" part.

"Get away from here, clear your head. Obviously if you're going to lose control like this you're in no state to lead the ESPers. When you're feeling better, come back and we'll see about putting HQ1 back as your main base again. For now, your soldiers belong to me. I'll hand them over as soon as you ditch the depression front."

"But that's ridiculous!" Mr Koizumi looked more than annoyed at that idea. "I have a responsibility, and you're expecting me to drop it and head up to HQ4 when I haven't even been called?"

"Yes," she said, narrowing her eyes, "and if you protest I'll just have to make you leave by force. Consider this a well-earned rest, Koizumi."

He shook his head, standing up.

"I'm not going," he said simply, frowning. "Not when I have people around me who have sacrificed so much." He left the room.

"D-Dad…!" Rikuto sprang to his feet and hurried after him, glancing back worriedly over his shoulder.

Miss Kazue blew a strand of hair upwards, looking hot and bothered.

"Asami, honey… I know what you're trying to do, really, but… Well, Itsuki would hate to leave now. He doesn't openly express this, but… He has people that he feels he has to protect. He can't abandon them. And besides…" She looked down, fringe falling forward. "If worst comes to worst, he's going to be too upset over Miss Mori to even _think_ about relaxing."

Miss Mikuru chewed on her lower lip, shivering slightly, while Hotaru came forward and clumsily put her arms around Miss Kazue. She glared at the wall opposite, eyes red-rimmed and burning with anger.

"He didn't have any right to lose it like that," she snapped. "Nor to take it out on you and Rikuto. Asami knows exactly what she's talking about. If he's going to lose his temper the way he just has, he needs to take a couple hundred pills and chill out."

Miss Kazue closed her mouth tightly and said nothing. It seemed she was torn between defending her husband and admitting that what Hotaru had said was the truth.

"It's settled then."

Asami smiled and sat on the arm of Miss Mikuru's chair, crossing her legs, a smug look on her face.

"Anyway, we found your lost little girl. She a new soldier of yours, Kazue?"

Miss Kazue didn't appear to be in a joking mood. She gave Asami a slight glare, before nodding a little to vigorously.

"Momoka Murakami, she's come to work for us. I'm glad she's alright, but then again, she is a tough cookie."

I'd never seen Asami with such a satisfied expression. Her and Miss Kazue's conflict was legendary, a folk tale passed from generation to generation; it was guaranteed that when put in the same room, the two women would find something to argue about. Asami, proud as ever, was a pro at pushing other people's buttons, and Miss Kazue, surprisingly, was ace at snappy comebacks. The two were complete opposites, although I had always thought opposites attract, until I met these two.

"It doesn't seem to be that way, Kazue," Asami remarked, raising an eyebrow in mock surprise, "the poor girl was pretty beat up; I even had Dango perform emergency first aid."

I rolled my eyes. Sure the girl had a sprained hand, but it was hardly life threatening.

Miss Kazue's eyes narrowed.

"Is that so? I don't believe there was anything wrong with her hand until she turned up outside _your_ door."

Asami's face fell.

"Watch it, Koizumi."

By then Hotaru had stopped listening to the two women's petty fight and had slumped in the corner, hair falling over her face. I walked over to her, taking her hand and pulling her to her feet.

"Hey come on, lets leave these two alone, shall we?"

Any other time Hotaru would have cracked a smile and made some corny joke about the bickering pair, but not today; she simply shrugged and followed after me, out of the room and down the corridor.

I was instantly horrified to find a snoring mess as I turned the corner, causing me to almost trip over my own feet.

"Oh for God's sake, Jack, will you stop sleeping in the oddest of places?"

Jack opened his eyes blearily, hauling himself to his feet. His hair was long and matted, and he really could do with a shave, but his eyes were kind and he was handsome nonetheless, in a strange kind of way. He grinned sheepishly.

"How's it going, Dango?"

I face palmed; this guy was unbelievable.

"Why are you sleeping in the corridor, Jack?"

He frowned.

"Call me Snake. Anyway, I've lost my key, haven't I?"

"Lost your key? Aren't you like, one of the greatest martial artists in all the world? Why the hell do you need a key?"

Jack looked taken aback.

"You expect me to bust down the door? Asami would go nuts!"

"Show Asami a little respect," I scolded. "It's Miss Asahina to you."

"Sorr-ee, mom," he said, flashing a grin at me. His gaze slowly shifted to Hotaru, who stood behind me, silent, mouth firmly shut.

"And who's this sweetie? I haven't seen her around. Where you been hiding her, Dan?"

Old Hotaru would have grounded him the moment the word 'sweetie' left his lips. New Hotaru just stood there and said nothing. Being the awesome best friend, of course, I felt I had to defend her.

"Shut up Jack-"

"-Call me Snake-"

"-Hotaru's not interested in hobo's. You can't go through life using your limited knowledge of martial arts to impress girls, you know."

He raised his hands in defence.

"Hey, who you calling limited? I'll have you know I've trained in countless different countries, even different worlds; I like to think I have an extended knowledge on that subject!" He cocked an eyebrow. "Anyway, why're you being so harsh on me? I've barely said a word about my Martial Arts expertees - it's mostly just been you chewing my ear off."

"Uh, yeah…" I turned around. Hotaru, who had barely said a word since I'd approached her, was watching him curiously. "Who is this guy, again?"

"He claims he's some sort of martial arts master who's been sliding all over the place, but… Well, to be perfectly honest, the only reason we recruited him is because we found him outside HQ3 half-starved and passed out on the ground."

Jack frowned.

"What do you mean 'claims'? I have been to other worlds, I tell ya! Believe it!" His mad claims sounded sketchy, but Hotaru was the kind of person who will believe anything if she likes the sound of it.

"Awesome!" Her face lit up slightly, looking Jack up and down as though he were a piece of modern art she didn't know whether she should like or not.

"Moving on," I added, before Hotaru got caught up in Jack's long rambles about his time in parallel universes. Grasping the crook of Hotaru's elbow, I pulled her past Jack and down through the corridor towards the room I knew Momoka was sleeping in. I heard Jack's voice behind us, shouting something about how he still couldn't get into his room, but I ignored him. I don't know what it is, but something about that guy just pisses me off.

Hotaru raised her eyebrows as we walked, a creepy grin appearing on her face.

"Hey Dango, that guy was cute. And you two seem to have hit it off. There isn't something going on between you is there?"

I rolled my eyes; Hotaru could be such a _girl_.

"You couldn't be further from the truth! I mean, I've only known him a few days. And besides, you know my heart belongs to only Rikuto."

Hotaru pulled a face and pretended to throw up, with very convincing sound effects; it was useful that all I had to do to shut her up was bring up my undying love for Rikuto Koizumi. One would assume she was _jealous_, but she'd assured me that that truly wasn't the case, never in a million years and if he was the last boy on earth. _Very_ convincing.

"Momoka's in here," I whispered, pushing open the door to her room. Hotaru frowned even more, if that were possible. I was surprised; I'd expected her to be happy to see her friend again, but then again, Hotaru could be bitchy, selfish and a little hard to get along with, so perhaps there was more to the two girl's relationship than I'd thought. As the door creaked open, Momoka sat bolt upright, causing both Hotaru and me to flinch. Her eyes shone in the dim light, making her look eerily like a cat, ready to pounce on its prey. She frowned when she caught sight of us.

"Oh it's you two," she spat, slumping against the wall. "Come to laugh at the girl with the broken wrist, huh?"

"For the last time, it's a sprained hand, not a broken wrist," I said irritably. Momoka shrugged; she genuinely didn't seem to be bothered at all by what I had to say. Moody cow.

"I thought you were Rikuto," she said nonchalantly, "we were talking before, after Mr Koizumi stormed past my room. He seemed quite upset. It was good for him to have somebody to confide in."

I knew where this was going. The two may not have known each other long, but this Momoka sure knew how to push Hotaru's buttons. I felt her tense beside me. Usually I would have tried to cool her down, but I had an instant loathing for this chick; she was just so smug. A tiny smile appeared on Momoka's face; she was obviously delighted at her reaction.

"He's a pretty sensitive boy you know, although he does like to act like Mr-Tough-Guy most of the time. I'm surprised that he didn't go to you, actually, Hotaru. Aren't you supposed to be _best friends_?"

I narrowed my eyes, wishing with all my might that I may miraculously develop laser vision and blast Momoka's head off in the blink of an eye. I felt my fists clench. Momoka's eyes flickered to my fists and narrowed dangerously.

"You looking for a fight, Anpan?"

"It's Dango!" I spat, feeling my brain ticking over with various tortures for the bitch. If looks could kill, I'd be dead now by the look Momoka was giving me, but she didn't lunge at me as I'd expected her to; she simply lay down in bed, pulling the duvet up around her face.

"Rikuto left earlier, with Mr Koizumi. Apparently some Miss Something or other wanted to speak to him."

I heard the breath catch in Hotaru's throat.

"Miss Mori?"

"Something like that…"

The news caught up with Hotaru in a rush. It was like when a cloud fills up with rain and suddenly explodes in a downpour. She turned on her heels and left, rushing down the corridor. I gave one last glance at Momoka, huddled up underneath her bedcovers, and followed Hotaru.

"Wait up!" I called to her, almost tripping over Jack's abnormally long legs.

"So, you're back for more of The Rattlesnake, huh-?"

"Not now, Jack!" I snapped, crashing past him. He muttered something about 'the ladies _always_ crawling back to Jack' as I turned a corner, almost falling into Hotaru, who was stood still. I followed her gaze and watched as Rikuto and Mr Koizumi shut the door quietly, almost silently, as if they were in shock.

"Well?"

Hotaru's voice was hoarse and I could see her fingers shaking violently. Rikuto gave a sad smile.

"S-She'll be okay," he croaked, tears filling his eyes as Hotaru began to cry, enormous sobs of relief. She flung herself at Rikuto, who took a step backwards, his eyes wide and unexpecting. I tried to ignore the gnawing feeling of jealousy in the pit of my stomach.

Rikuto hesitantly patted Hotaru on the back, unsure of how to respond, but his eyes were still dim; something wasn't right.

"Hotaru, she… She's alive, but… Well… She's paralyzed."

He choked on the last word, tears streaming down his cheeks, and he buried his face in Hotaru's shoulder, trying to hide the tears. "F-From the waist down… She's paralyzed…"

I glanced up at Mr Koizumi, but his expression was unreadable; it was impossible to tell what he was feeling, but his eyes were slightly red, as if he too had been crying. Hotaru just stood, frozen, as if she couldn't process the words properly. After a few moments, Rikuto released her, wiping his eyes on his sleeve, but she just stood limply like a doll, her expression one of complete shock.

"She… She c-can't move. I did that to her. This is all my fault!"

Her face crumpled up, as her knees buckled; Hotaru fell to her knees, covering her eyes with her hands to stop the tears leaking out from showing, wailing loudly, like a child.

Rikuto crashed down beside her and held her numbly, eyes wide and dim, as if he was acting unconsciously, not registering his surroundings.

I watched as Mr Koizumi turned away, gritting his teeth and clenching his fists. Not for the first time today, I was at loss of what to do, floundering in a sea of devastated people.

_This war is slowly swallowing us._

That was the first thought that occurred to me as I stood before them, watching silently. As Hotaru cried and Rikuto comforted her, as he stared blankly on and Mr Koizumi blinked back the sadness, my heart was going out to them all.

_They need help, _I decided, biting my lip. _They're all messed up right now. They need cheering up, something to take their minds off of things. Asami's right. How can they live through a war in this condition?_

"Mr Koizumi," I said, trying my best to keep my voice steady. "Even if you don't agree with Asami, I think you should travel up to HQ4. It will do you guys good to get away from here for a while, trust me. Even if she doesn't show it, Asami really cares for you guys. I know she'd be disappointed if you didn't go." He frowned, and I silently breathed a sigh of relief. At least he was being expressive now.

"I'm sorry, Dango… I know you mean well, but I can't leave. Not when Miss Mori's condition is as it is."

"Look, sir…" My eyes widened at that voice. I turned around, startled. Jack was stood behind me, and even though he looked tired from his uneasy, irregular sleeping patterns, his eyes were watching Mr Koizumi with a seriousness I didn't know he had.

"J-Jack…?"

"Look, sir, I don't know what crap you've lugged with you here, but if Asami and Dango say you should go, it's obviously not worth turning down. Who knows? This little trip up to HQ4 might heal you better then moping around here will." Wow. That was pretty deep, for Jack's standards.

"Wh-What Jack means is," I said hurriedly, before Mr Koizumi could get too ticked off by Jack's outbursts, "is that, you might all feel better if you take a break from all of this." He sighed heavily.

"You people won't let me turn this trip down, will you?" he asked tiredly. "…Well, okay, then. I'm not happy about this… but if everybody's that concerned, I suppose we'll go."

Rikuto pulled Hotaru to her feet, biting back more tears.

"C-Come on," he said, tears still running down his face. "M-Mom will be getting worried, and everything… We should get back, before they all start to worry about us."

"O-Okay," she sobbed, standing up shakily. She was still crying as he took her hand and led her away, murmuring to her softly. Mr Koizumi exhaled deeply, before following them.

Jack leaned in closer to me as we lagged behind.

"Man, these Koizumi's are really messed up, huh?" he whispered. I shrugged.

"I guess that's what they must look like. But… Well, they're normally pretty tough. It's just that Miss Mori's been hurt. Real bad. I knew her too, but not like they did-"

"-Which is why you're not crying your eyes out and kneeling on the floor too," he finished. Jack flashed a grin. "Well, they seem interesting. Hopefully I'll have the chance to get to know them better soon. No offence, but I don't really feel like sticking around here for too long. I just want to finish off the war already so everybody can relax and have fun without feeling guilty."

"That's some strong motives you've got there," I remarked. He shrugged.

"Well, if it'll make the Koizumi family less depressing, then sure, I'll reach for that goal with all my might. Cause I'm telling you, it's a real downer being surrounded by people who cry all the time."

"You're the weirdest person I've ever met," I said.

"And don't you forget it," replied Jack, smirking. He ruffled my hair and I shrank away from him, pulling a face.

Jack sighed and stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"…So… About my room…"

_Next Arc :- the Mountain Arc!_

**XXX**

**Cha-Cha: So, thanks for reading the latest instalment of Silence :D I hope that it provided enough angst and satisfaction for all you angsty satisfaction seekers!**

**Mugi: And we also hope that you guys liked the brief encounter with two newly-introduced OCs, Dango Yowaki and Jack "Snake" Lesser! (:**

**Cha-Cha: Now, we're gonna let you guys in on something big… Rikuto and Hotaru have Tumblr accounts now! :D Woo-hoopla~**

**They'll be listed on Cha-Cha and Mugi's fan fiction profiles (for those of you who just wanna click on the hyperlinks), as well as below for those of you who are too lazy to check our profiles.**

**Rikuto's Tumblr: www DOT rikutokoizumi DOT tumblr DOT com**

**And Hotaru's Tumblr: www DOT hotarumizuki DOT tumblr DOT com**

**Anyway, there you'll find awesome updates like pictures, any Silence AMVs and trailers (cause we've been in the mood lately), Rikuto and Hotaru's personal blogging posts, and just random Silence updates, cause, ya know, it takes a while for us to post a new chapter :D If you're Silence-deprived, check out the blogs every once in a while, cause you're bound to find something new =)**

**Anyway, we'll seeya then! ^^**


	10. Chapter 9

**Warning: Insanely long, but will contain review replies. If you reviewed, please stick around cause we'll have replied to it, and if you haven't reviewed… well, why the hell not? (Joking. Please just skip to the story, then!)**

**The Very Exciting Authors Note!**

**Cha-Cha: Howdy! We're onto the Mountain Arc now! Woo-hoo! It feels like an age since we last updated but if you've been checking the Tumblr accounts then you'll know that quite a bit's been going on! :D For starters, there's been some opening credits made by moi, as well as a trailer that Mugi made a while ago as well. Also their icon pictures are up, and Rikuto's somehow dug up a picture of Kazue from the past… Also, if you're not following them for the roleplaying, at the very least check once in a while for any additional information added (because hopefully it'll give more insight on backstories and stuff).**

**Now! Onto the review replies!**

**Mai Sachiyuki, chapter 8: Yay! Rikuto's very grateful that he's gained a follower :3**

**Drake Nolsa, chapter 8: Hmm… Well, Mugi's not with me right now… She's buying one of those puffy body suits so that her ovaries will stay in place -shot- But I suppose that she wants you to see the good in the bad situation, and stuff…**

**And yes! We're very glad that you like the portrayal of Jack - he's a pretty funny character to write about, and we're really hoping to include him more in the future!**

**The Layman, chapter 8: LOL, you're right! I don't see all that many fanfics where Koizumi is genuinely cared for by the characters or the fan fiction writer, and even in the light novels he's pushed around and stuff… So thanks for the compliment! :3 We hope this chapter will not disappoint!**

**superstarultra, chapter 8: Haha, thanks! We're super glad that you're enjoying the fic so far. And Jack and Dango are fun to portray - we'll try and bring them back again soon :D Thanks for all the support and stuff, Super ^^ Me and Mugi reeeeally appreciate it~**

**Chirijiradin, chapter 8: Why hello, there! This is your first time reviewing, ne? Thanks for the brilliant OC, by the way :3 We absolutely can't wait to work with him!**

**We also have a brand new OC, Sayuri (who is right now lacking a surname :D). Created by us (well, Mugi), she doesn't have an OC profile in the forum yet, but hopefully we'll post one soon. We also have Haruhi and Kyon's daughter… Who we're not revealing until later for plot purposes ;) *plus we're evil like that, hehe.* Well, anyway, 'be seein' you guys later :D Sorry for the delay in chapters, and stuff… I hope that in future we won't make you wait so long *bows***

**Anyway, ya know, submit Ocs and leave reviews to become a part of Silence, trololol~**

**Silence**

"I still don't see why we need an escort," huffed Koizumi for the billionth time. Kazue shot him a look, while Joseph, our bodyguard, squirmed uncomfortably.

"Don't be so impolite, Itsuki," she scolded. "Asami said so herself, it's for our own protection." She flashed a reassuring smile at Joseph. "Just ignore him. He's still a bit upset."

"We don't need protection," he snapped, marching ahead. Kazue sighed, while Rikuto and I exchanged looks. I heard Dango and Momoka hissing at each other under their breath and tried to ignore them. I mean, I know Momoka's hard to get along with, and I wasn't sticking up for her, but Dango sure was a lot more fun when she wasn't trying to win a silent bitch-fight with the mega-bitch herself. Mikuru just stayed silent and tried to look adorable, but nobody was really that happy with her either. All together there were eight of us, but none of us would speak to each other. It was freaking creepy.

"Hey, Rikuto," I whispered, nudging him in the sides, but he just kept trudging, shivering in his thin shirt. Asami had provided us all with clothes, but I have to say they weren't exactly the height of fashion. I pulled at my itchy red winter coat and shook snow from my hair. It was pretty freaking cold in the mountains. That said, at least the view was kind of pretty. A blanket of snow covered the rocky mountain ground as far as the eye could see.

Hey, how weird is that saying? 'A blanket of snow'? I thought blankets were something that was supposed the be warm and comforting, but there was nothing comfortable about this icy weather and the feeling creeping through my snow boots was the furthest thing from warmth. I was waiting for Koizumi to stop and say something like, "Oh, here we are, a secret passageway, with central heating and free hot chocolate!", but of course, he didn't. Because that would be too freaking convenient.

"Hey Rikuto, say something!" I whined, pushing him a little, and trying to hide my laughter as he slide forward and almost fell, his arms wind milling comically. Once he composed himself, however, he shook his head.

"C-C-Can't." He forced out the words through chattered teeth, "T-Too c-c-c-cold!"

"What, really?" I laughed, sliding my feet across the icy floor. According to Koizumi, one of the faults that makes me less human than everyone else is that I can withstand extreme temperatures. Sure, I was chilly, but Rikuto looked like he could come down with hyperthermia at any minute or something. I stopped laughing as Rikuto glared at me, and realised he must be pretty uncomfortable. I know I can be a bitch sometimes, but I'm not _mean_.

"Koizumi, how much further?" I moaned, my eyes straining in the shining light from the endless snow. He didn't get chance to speak, however, before Kazue pointed excitedly to a large mountain peak.

"There it is!" she cried happily, almost jumping with relief.

"Where?" I craned my neck, hoping to spot some kind of sign of life, but I couldn't see anything but a snowy peak. I suppose that was a good thing, as it's supposed to be secret and everything, but still.

"Over this way guys!" Joseph called out to us, and Dango and Momoka finally halted in their whispered argument and looked up, intrigued. Joseph was waving us over towards a ditch. I frowned, confused.

"Okay guys," Joseph instructed as we all gathered in the ditch, almost dithering in anticipation. I wondered what we were going to do. Did we have to scour the rock face without a rope? Would we have to find our way through a maze of underground passageways? Or had Joseph spotted an ambush just metres away and we were about to go into combat right here and now?

I glanced around the small ditch at the side of the foot path. The was a rock protruding from the edge of the road, with a small, dark hole beneath it. It clicked in my mind before Joseph had even begun to explain.

"Listen carefully," he told us, speaking more to Momoka, Dango, Rikuto and me than anybody else, "there's a passageway over there and we're going to go through it. You have to crawl, and it's going to be very dark and very tight, so try not to panic and just keep following the person in front of you. Got it?"

"Yeah, yeah, we're not kids!" I snapped, as Koizumi slid through the opening on his hands and knees. Kazue climbed in after him, followed by Momoka, then Mikuru, then Dango and then me, Rikuto and Joseph shortly behind. And he wasn't kidding when he said it was tight. In the darkness, it felt as if the tunnel were getting smaller and smaller, until I could barely breathe, but I kept quiet, crawling along as best I could. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I could see Dango's trembling form in front of me.

"This isn't the best time to mention I have claustrophobia, is it?" she whispered, her voice cracking.

"What's that?" I asked her, but it was Rikuto who answered.

"Claustrophobia," Rikuto stated behind me, "is kind of like a fear of enclosed spaces, but it's not just like being scared. A phobia is a condition that affects you even more than fright. It's, er, hard to explain."

"You mean you're scared of-" I began, before getting a face full of… well, I won't say what of. Dango had frozen in her tracks, curling up into a kind of foetus position on the floor. I screwed up my eyes as Rikuto bashed straight into me and I heard him groan as Joseph barged on into him.

"What the hell are you doing?" I hissed, nudging Dango but she wouldn't budge.

"I… I can't move," Dango whispered, panic sounding in her voice, "It's… It's too dark. Too small. I'm stuck."

"Oh don't be stupid," I snapped, pushing her with all my might, which is a lot, I might add, and Dango moved forward about an inch, "This is coming from the girl who can hit a bullseye from thirty feet away. You're black belt in san ku kai for gods sake! I've seen you punch your way through fifty aliens, so don't you dare say you'll give up so easily! There's no way Dango Yowaki can be defeated by a little tunnel. This is nothing!"

I pushed her back and slowly but surely, she began to crawl again. I kept shouting at her to keep going. I think it worked. I don't really get what a phobia is, but it must have been powerful to render Dango unable to move.

"It's… It's okay, Dango," Rikuto called nervously from behind me. "Y-You can pull through this, I swear… I-I mean, you're b-brilliant and stuff, so… So you can do this! I-I believe in you, Dango!"

Ugh. Talk about cheesy.

Nonetheless, it got Dango going again; rather hesitantly, glancing back over her shoulder every now and then to make sure he was watching her, but she made it through, and at last I rose to the damn surface. A cool rush of fresh air filled my lungs and I exhaled deeply as Rikuto surfaced, rosy-cheeked with the cold. Moments later, Joseph crawled out.

"Th-That was terrifying!" Dango muttered, face white. I put an arm around her shaking shoulders, praying I wouldn't have to say anything soppy - I've always been pretty bad at that.

"Now, kids," Joseph said loudly, pulling us back towards the hole, "You have to promise me to stay calm and stand well back for a few minutes, okay? Things tend to get a little bumpy around these points."

"Okay, chief," I said dryly. "Just what exactly do you mean by bu-"

As if to answer my rather rudely cut off question, a loud rumbling noise erupted around us. Dango's mouth opened in a silent scream and she clung to Rikuto tightly (not that _he _was complaining, I noticed). The ground shifted and raw terror clung to me for a moment. What the hell was happening?

Then, from behind the edge of the cliff side we'd emerged from, a large black shape began to lift into the air.

"…A helicopter?" I asked, dumbfounded. Joseph nodded, beaming.

"Yep! A helicopter. Now, climb on, kids! Mind your step though! Careful not to fall, cause trust me, it's a looong way down." He picked up a frost-covered rock and tossed it down the gap between the edge of the cliff and the helicopter step. We listened out in anticipation for some kind of crash. After waiting a while, Rikuto gulped nervously.

"I-I didn't hear it land," he hissed to me. I shrugged, as if to say, _And? What do you want me to do?_

"Right, don't be shy!" Joseph said, gesturing towards the open door. "The pilot's gonna freeze, you know."

"Well, if you guys aren't gonna go, I will," I huffed, folding my arms. Joseph flashed a grateful smile at me as I reluctantly trudged forwards.

"Good, Hotaru! Now, mind the gap!" I ignored him and clamoured on, gripping the sides of the helicopter. I half expected for the side of the helicopter to tip up, and for me to fall to my dreaded doom like that rock Joseph had thrown down earlier… but I didn't.

"Argh, that felt weird," I gasped, finding a seat on a hard blue plastic bench facing the opposite wall of the helicopter. "Well, come on, guys! What're you waiting for?"

After a moment of prompting, Dango climbed on, still a little shaky. This coaxed Rikuto on, and his parents followed suit, having done this quite a few times over the years. Momoka and Joseph followed, leaving Mikuru to climb on last, eyes tightly shut.

"Is everybody ready to go?" A soldier I didn't recognise but I'm assuming was the pilot turned around to face us. Koizumi nodded, a small smile on his face. Well, it was a relief to know that he was feeling a little better, at least.

"Nakagawa! How've you been?" Kazue asked, eyes brightening. 'Nagakawa' grinned cheesily at her.

"Ah, Kazue Koizumi, long time no see!" He nodded towards Koizumi. "You too, Koizumi! And is that little Rikuto?" He squinted at Rikuto, who shrank back, confused. "Aw, he was only a shrimp the last time I saw him! Bless."

"Right, uh, these are great little reunions, but seriously, shouldn't we get going?" I interrupted. 'Nakagawa' slapped his forehead.

"Right, right you are kiddo. Who might this little redhead be?" he asked, flashing me a weird smile. I regarded him coldly."Hotaru Mizuki." His eyes rounded.

"Oh! So you're the Koizumi's little helper! The alien from the Sky Canopy Domain everybody's been talking about for the past few years!" He nodded towards me. "Nice to finally meet you. Nice to know that they weren't just rumours."

"Whatever," I scowled. "Just start up the damn helicopter."

XXX

"So remind me again why we couldn't have just taken a helicopter from the start?" I hissed to Joseph, who tried to stay professional, deciding to keep his mouth shut instead of answering my damn question. Koizumi turned to look at me, looking a little miffed but otherwise his usual smiley self.

"Because we couldn't take the helicopter until its course was completely concealed by the mountain over there, see?"

"Then why not drop us off in front of the entrance instead of over the other side of the mountain?" I snap, flicking snow off my shoulder into an unfortunate Rikuto's face. Kazue, who seemed slightly less understanding, muttered irritably something about it being a precaution, but I still couldn't see the point. If there were aliens around here, we'd have been attacked hours ago, right?

"Here!" Koizumi suddenly cried, pointing down to a small ledge beneath the path, "The entrance is right there!"

Without further ado, he jumped down onto the ledge, which seemed able to hold only two people, maybe three if we squashed or sat on each other's shoulders or something. He beckoned for us to follow him.

"Momoka, Hotaru, come down here a sec. Rikuto and Dango will have a pass but I'll have to sign you two in as guests."

Reluctantly, I clambered down, Momoka following shortly after, her arms crossed sternly, but her face looking a little more unsure of herself. Koizumi looked up to the rock face, which seemed as solid as, well, ice, and placed his hands on the freezing snow.

"Itsuki Koizumi, registrar number 5."

He glanced at the two of us for a second, before adding, "Two female guests, Hotaru Mizuki and Momoka Murakami."

We waited for a few moments, and at the point I was beginning to wonder whether the door was broken or something, a loud robotic, yet distinctly female voice sounded across the mountainside.

"Voice Recognition: Verified. Fingerprint Recognition: Verified. Welcome, Itsuki Koizumi and guests."

I waited a moment more, but nothing happened.

"Koizumi, where's the door?"

I sounded foolish, like a child who had been told something, but had forgotten it just a beat later. Koizumi smiled widely, and simply stepped through the snow as if it were-

"It's a hologram!" I cried, stepping cautiously through the once solid rock face, a rush of scalding air whooshing past my face as I stepped inside HQ4.

"How did it do that?" I asked incredulously, as Momoka walked into my now frozen body, but I hardly noticed. I was stunned. I imagined HQ4 pretty much like our base or Asami's base; what I _didn't _expect was luxurious carpeted hallways, polished oak doors and chandelier's hanging from the ceiling. I realised my mouth was open and shut it quickly, realising I must've looked like a complete idiot.

I glanced at Momoka, who had a similar expression to me - gob-smacked.

"This is a base?" she asked doubtfully. Koizumi nodded, looking pleased at our reactions.

"Yes. This is HQ4, ladies. Sayuri will probably be here to meet us soon. The others will be in shortly." He gestured towards a couch neatly tucked away behind a lampshade. "Would you two like to take a seat?"

I sat down, soaking up my surroundings with eyes I could only guess were about as wide as saucers. It seemed so much like a hotel it was unbelievable.

"Now now, Rikuto," came Kazue's laughter-filled voice, "don't get too upset. I'm sure Sayuri was just being funny with you."

"Voice not verified, though?" He sounded horrified. "I haven't been here since I was ten! She knew it was me, but just because my voice has broken she decided it would be okay to do a search of my clothing and pluck a hair from my head so she could make sure! I mean, what gives?"

Sure enough, their shapes burst through the hologram. Rikuto had his arms crossed over his chest crossly, while Kazue was trying to calm him down with a face crossed with both sympathy and amusement. Shortly after Dango, Mikuru and Joseph followed, talking amongst themselves.

"Oh my god," Dango moaned, legs wobbling. "It's so warm in here my legs are burning."

"I take it everybody got in all right?" Koizumi asked, clasping his hands together. Rikuto nodded sulkily.

"Except Sayuri was being really annoying about my voice," he grumbled. "Just because I'm not some high-pitched pipsqueak anymore…"

"Come on, now," Koizumi laughed, ruffling his hair, "You know Sayuri is a little bit-"

"Loopy? Insane? A freaking nut job?" Rikuto inputted.

"Lonely," Kazue corrected him, giving him a disapproving look. "She doesn't have people staying all that often, so it's only natural that she'd want to play a little prank."

"Mom, she's 28. A little old for playing pranks, don't you think?" He folded his arms and trudged over to me.

"Yo." I raised an eyebrow. "So, this Sayuri… Where is she?"

"Probably taking care of paperwork or something… I don't know."

As if answering our thoughts, an impossibly loud squeal vibrated around the room.

"Yoo hoo! Koizumis and guests! It's great to see you again~!" A fair-haired woman bounded over to us (which looked difficult as she was wearing a tight skirt-suit). Her eyes were twinkly and held a kind of mischief you didn't find often in people.

"Sayuri! How have you been?" Kazue cried, happiness filling her eyes.

"Better than you, I presume," 'Sayuri' replied breezily, raising an eyebrow. "I heard about the ambush from Asami… And I heard about Miss Mori, as well." Her eyes clouded over for a brief moment. "Such a shame… She was a fine soldier…"

"She still is!" Koizumi blurted out, hurt flashing in his eyes. "She still is a wonderful soldier!" Dango tugged on his sleeve, shivering uncomfortably. Sayuri shrugged.

"Perhaps. Either way, that's not what you came here for, understand?" Her eyes narrowed. "You are all here to relax, and to clear your heads of any negative feelings. Including you, Mister Itsuki." She jabbed a finger against his chest. She may have only come up to his chin height-wise, but she was feisty, and, despite Koizumi's best efforts, her boundless energy left him outnumbered. "Do as Asami says, dammit! I'm just going to say what everybody's thinking to save them the discomfort - we know that Miss Mori's injury has shocked you, and we know you've been taking the news badly. But guess what, it wasn't your fault! So get over it, okay?"

She folded her arms, nodding curtly at his dumbfounded expression. "Right, now I've gotten that off my chest… I'm sorry that I might've been a little harsh. But I'm supposing you'll all want me to show you your rooms?"

"Hang on a moment, please, Miss Sayuri," Joseph said, stepping forward nervously. "We haven't yet introduced you to first-timers here…" He motioned towards me and Momoka.

"Ah, that's right." She glanced at me and I stood my ground, although under her hawk-like gaze it was reeeally difficult.

"This here is Hotaru Mizuki… She's the experiment the SCD left behind at that lab five years ago," Joseph said, flashing me a smile that was friendly yet sooo fake. "The Koizumi family raised her since she was found and she's a strong ally." Sayuri's gaze swept over me, and she nodded with what I hoped was an approving smile.

"Excellent," she said simply. "You're welcome here, Miss Mizuki."

"Um, just Hotaru is fine," I said, bowing to be polite. She nodded.

"Hotaru, then. You are most welcome. Is there anybody else I haven't been acquainted with yet?" Her stare shifted to Momoka, who turned red under the pressure.

"A-And this is Momoka Murakami," added Joseph hurriedly. "She's a strong fighter, and is highly skilled in martial arts… Miss Koizumi recruited her a while ago, but it was only a few days ago that she officially joined our team."

She scanned Momoka, who was looking sulkier by the minute, before nodding swiftly.

"Yes, she's a tough cookie. Perfect. All right then, follow me. I'll show you to your rooms now."

Sayuri led us down a dimly lit corridor, which was a little bland, but otherwise comfortable.

"You'll be in your usual room, Mr and Mrs Koizumi," Sayuri droned monotonously, "And I guess I'll sort out your rooms later. But now that I think about it, I really can't be bothered to do this."

Sayuri turned on her heel, causing Mikuru to trip over her own feet and began to walk back to the entrance hall we'd just been in, like, ten seconds ago.

What was up with this chick? At least allow us to do something freaking useful with our time!

"I'll take you to the meeting room instead. It's called the meeting room because we hold meetings there! But we also eat there, so I guess it's a dining room. Although everybody meets there to dine, so I guess it's still a meeting room. Ah, here it is! Look for yourselves! Don't expect me to do all the hard work! You have eyes too, you know! Koizumi's, do you want a cup of tea in my office? Of course you do, that's Mr and Mrs Koizumi, not the midget… Okay, see you later kids!"

…She seriously said that all in one breath. Without pausing. It was, like, all one sentence. I'm surprised I could understand what she was saying.

The Koizumi's left the room with Sayuri, apparently unfazed, along with Joseph and Mikuru, although Sayuri hadn't asked _them_ for a cup of tea. I just shrugged at Rikuto, who still seemed to be trying to make sense of what Sayuri had just said, and pushed open the grand, polished oak doors.

"It's about time you got here!" a voice sounded from inside the grand room, and I heard Rikuto catch his breath behind me. Dango's face broke out in an enormous smile and Momoka peered curiously at the tall, handsome stranger silhouetted at the ornate window, which simply appeared to be a wall made of glass.

"Takeo," Rikuto muttered dazedly, shaking his head as though he were hallucinating, "Long time no see."

"Guess we've got some catching up to do," Takeo Suzumiya said, gesturing to four mugs of steaming hot chocolate on a long, glass table. "Anybody fancy a hot chocolate?"

**XXX**

**Wow! So here ends the first (of many) chapter of the Mountain Arc, yaay! :D And everybody, welcome Takeo to the plot! *claps* Anyway, yeah, um, if you want any more information, check out the blogs… you know what to do.**

**Review and maybe create an OC to become a part of Silence! :3**


	11. Chapter 10

**Warning: Insanely long, but will contain review replies. If you reviewed, please stick around cause we'll have replied to it, and if you haven't reviewed… well, why the hell not? (Joking. Please just skip to the story, then!)**

**The Very Exciting Authors Note!**

**Cha-Cha: Hi there! …We have no excuse for the age it took us to update, except we are two extremely lazy teenage girls who are busy with school and like playing Pokemon games.**

**Mugi: Ignore her. Anyway, um… we're really sorry it's taken so long to update! Right, lets welcome our new cast member: Momoko Kinoshita! Hey! Like Hideyoshi Kinoshita! (Baka to Test fanatic alert!)**

**Momoko: Hey thar! :D I was created by Mugi-pyon, and I'm a total loli! Prepare for an overdose of cuteness when I'm around! I used to be a slider, slipping this way and that, from Kingdom Hearts to Baka to Test, but somehow I ended up in this world!**

**Cha-Cha: *stoned on lolicon-overload***

**Mugi: Right… review replies.**

**Cha-Cha: Chirajin, chapter 9: Ahh! Sorry to scare you! ;A; I'd love to say "we're doing our best to keep the updates regular", but we can admit it; we've been kinda lazy recently. Sorry about that. Still, please keep supporting our fic!**

**Mai Sachiyuki, chapter 9: Aha, your reviews always make us laugh :') Oh, Takeo… *fangirl crush***

**Mr Wang 330, chapter 9: Ehh? B-But Takeo is AWESOME SAUCE! No, seriously. We love him. Anyway, I know what you mean, what with the growing characters and all of that. We'll do our best to keep you guys on track, but a good idea while reading this fic would be to probably get up the forum in a new tab so you can flick through it when you get confused. It'd save a lot of headaches.**

**Drake Nolsa, chapter 9: Haha, no, sadly not. As far as I know (considering I'm co-authoring this fic, Mugi is awfully secretive about her).**

**The Layman, chapter 9: I can see what you mean :'D No doubt there will be a lot of sarcastic moments ahead.**

**Yowaki, chapter 9: Ahaha, me too! (Mugi barely shares any info about her, arghh.) I see what you mean about Jack. I love his character to pieces so we'll probably bring him back quite soon. (:**

**superstarultra, chapter 9: Thank you so much! And don't worry about it, Super! We'd be honoured if you do add your OCs to the story some time soon, but don't rush yourself. ^^**

**Mugi-pyon, chapter 9: Umm, well we just think it's a little messy putting in honorifics, because some people are closer than others to different people, so it'd get confusing trying to remember who was "-chan" to somebody, and who was "-sama" to somebody else. D'you get what I'm saying? ^^;; Thank you for the lovely review!**

**Mugi: In the near or distant future, please feel free to review, and submit an OC to become a part of Silence!**

* * *

"So," Takeo began, handing me a mug of hot chocolate, "I see you've gotten taller, Rikuto."

I threw him a dirty look. "Haha, very funny. It's been, what, two years? Why haven't you come back to HQ for so long? Did you forget we were waiting for you to come home?"

He sighed, rubbing the back of his head, making his already tousled hair even more unkempt.

"I can't say I did it out of spite, young man. I've just been dealing with the grown-up stuff. They think they're so much better than everybody else… the nerve of some people…" He continued to grumble to himself as Momoka sneakily stole glances of him over her own steaming mug.

"Grown-up stuff?" I frowned. "You mean like, all the secret stuff my parents refuse to tell me? Spill!" He tutted.

"No can do, kiddo. You know the legend of the SOS Brigade?" I rolled my eyes; _here it comes._

"My parents are the original founders of the SOS Brigade," he bragged, puffing out his chest. "The others being Mikuru Asahina, mother of our darling grouch queen Asami, the infamous Yuki Nagato, whose location is currently unknown and I wouldn't tell you kids anyway, and last, and least, your parents, Itsuki Koizumi and Kazue Koizumi, formerly Kazue Matsuda." He took a deep breath before continuing.

"My mother held the powers to quite possibly destroy and recreate the world, so it became the SOS Brigade's duty to make sure it didn't come to that by overloading her high school days with fun, fun, fun. Then, towards the end of their third year at the now empty ghost school of North High, the mask was dropped and they came clean of everything. My mother threw a fit and spent a long while debating whether or not the whole brigade was crazy, but finally came to when my father wooed her with his charm and good looks, which I have clearly inherited." He paused for a moment, his face clouding over. "They got married, and you know the rest."

"So what does that have to do with why they won't tell us anything?" I asked, taking a sip of my hot chocolate. He shrugged.

"When you-know-what happened, they made a pact at some point to try and keep you kiddies as protected from the war as possible. I mean, I still don't understand why they're letting kids as small as you fight, but the point is, they're protecting you from the knowledge so you don't get obsessed with this conflict going on. They want you guys to stay out of the gritty details."

"That's so unfair!" I spluttered. "I'm 16! I'm not a kid!" He raised an eyebrow quizzically, but said nothing, taking a gulp from his own mug of coffee.

"Well, you know what happened. They're scared that if they share too much information with you, what happened last time will happen again."

"But that's the bit I'm still totally unclear on!" Momoka spoke up at last. "Mr Takeo, I, for one, want to know exactly how this war started!"

Uh oh.

Takeo's left eyebrow twitched. "…Who are you?"

"I'm Momoka Murakami!" Her scruffy mop of hair seemed to quiver in excitement as she appeared to be contemplating her next move. "I'm a new recruit, but I am, admittedly, very young. I'm not very experienced at all with how this happened… and I want to know!"

He frowned.

"Momoka, drop it," Hotaru said darkly. She'd barely said a word since we'd arrived. "You won't even come close to understanding with an attitude like that."

"What?" Momoka glared at Hotaru. "Stay out of this."

"No, you stay out of this!" Hotaru got to her feet, seething. "How it happened doesn't concern you! So just shut up before I shut your fucking mouth for you!"

Momoka's jaw dropped, as did mine. Hotaru just stood there with the most thunderous look on her face I'd ever seen, before sitting back down again and draining her mug. Takeo looked troubled.

"It's okay, Hotaru…" He sighed deeply. "I mean, I'm not exactly thrilled to have to tell this story for the hundredth time, but if this girl has questions, she deserves answers, right? At least she has the guts to speak up about it." He glanced up at Momoka slowly. "…You know about my mom, don't you?"

"I know of her, yes… Haruhi Suzumiya, right?" He nodded.

"Yep, that's her… well, you know she had those… powers. Don't you? Well, I don't know how or why, but for some reason the aliens got some leads on the fact that there was a chance me and my sister… my twin sister… could've 'inherited' her powers. So they came after us.

"You see," he continued, "they were really sneaky about it. We never even realised they were following us around. My mom sensed it, but she'd always been kind of… paranoid about that stuff, especially when she knew things like aliens actually existed. My dad told her she was thinking too much - he never noticed, either, so I guess we followed him in that sense. My parents always seemed to have a bit of a strange relationship, but it was what happened to my sister that actually broke them."

He took a deep breath before continuing."I don't know if you kids are truly aware of what happened in the months leading up to it, but my mom grew more and more frightened… no, obsessed… with the idea that we were being watched, so she started controlling my dad. Not literally - she's not some spooky psychic or anything." I glanced over at Dango, who seemed to take offence; not that I could blame her, either. "But she started forcing him to stop taking us out to places, stopped him from visiting their friends, like the Koizumi's, Mikuru… at one point, she thought even Yuki had turned against them, although my dad was quick to jump to her defence. She refused to let us play outside, too. It was like she was terrified that if we stepped out of the house somebody would come and snatch us. But my dad thought she was nuts… so he went against her will, and took me and my sister out to a restaurant on our ninth birthday."

I glanced around. Hotaru had her hands over her ears. Dango was still grumbling to herself about the 'psychic' comment. And Momoka was transfixed on Takeo's story, drinking in every word.

"We didn't think it was wrong… we were excited. I mean, can you imagine how frustrating it was to be shut in the house for months on end? We were living like hermits. Can you imagine the joy we felt that our dad was letting us have our old lives back, even for a day? We ate out, and it felt good. Then afterwards, he took us to the park, where we ran around and played while my dad watched us from the park bench. Then my sister suggested we play hide and seek. I was It. So I counted to one hundred - or, at least, I was planning on it. But when I got to about sixty, I heard a scream. My dad looked up, stood up, called her name. I was frightened. I mean, I'd never seen my dad look so scared before. He shouted her name again and again, pulled me by the arm as he searched, holding me with a vice grip. He searched and searched, but it was too late. My sister had been taken, and the aliens had won."

He fell silent for a moment, as though he were lost in thought. "…When we arrived back at our house, my mom was hysterical. She knew, just knew that something had happened, and when she found out…" He buried his head in his hands. "…Well, that was the end of their marriage, to put it frankly. They sent me to live with the Koizumi's for a while, and Asami was there as well, because Mikuru had dropped her off and left her there. And, well, things were hectic. They went their separate ways, left me on my own. A few years later they got over themselves and joined forces, with this silent agreement that if it meant finding my sister, they'd suck up their pride and work together. I travelled around with them for a couple of years, and then one day I just decided to leave them a note and break away, walk my own road. Surviving was easier than it was when my parents were constantly digging at one another, cause can you imagine trying to catch a rabbit or a fox when your parents are having a mild screaming match next to you? And now, here I am, seventeen years old, alive and well."

He tried to offer a convincing smile, but Momoka didn't smile back. Instead she looked down, fumbling with her hands like an awkward child.

"I, um… that sounds like it was really rough for you… and, er… well, I'm sorry I, y'know, asked…" She was beginning to lose her composure.

"It's okay… well, it's not, it'll never be okay as long as she's in their possession, but…" He leaned back. "Well, when my sister was snatched, I think it triggered something inside my mom… either way, it seemed like her powers just disappeared, and she couldn't get them back. Since then the aliens just seemed to get stronger. Some people think it's just coincidence, and other people think there was this whole scandal where my sister 'stole' my mom's powers and they're using her to fuel their power… it doesn't matter to me. I just hope I can get my sister back and take revenge for the sick bastard who took her away from us." His fists clenched and he stood up abruptly, cursing as he knocked over his mug.

"Oh, screw this! Sayuri better have a decent carpet cleaner cause no way is scrubbing at the stain with a damp cloth gonna get that out," he spat, glaring down at the stain his coffee had made on the cream carpet. He glanced over his shoulder at us.

"Man, you guys are a real pathetic-looking bunch, you know that? Are you coming to dinner or what?"

Sometimes I wonder whether or not whether Takeo is intentionally that rude, or whether he's just oblivious to people's feelings.

* * *

"Ah, my old room!" I swiped my card key down and watched with joy swelling in my chest as the door swung open, revealing the king sized bed and en suite I loved and missed.

With a whoop I flopped down on the bed, feeling it spring and bounce under my weight. Hotaru glanced through the doorway at me, clearly unimpressed.

"Great, you've had your fun. Now can you sort me out some freaking clothes?" she grumbled. "Mine are all still damp from the snow."

I fished around in the wardrobe. "Um, all I have are some of my mom's old clothes… are those okay?"

"Why do you have your mom's clothes in your closet?" she asked me, grabbing a handful before disappearing into the bathroom. "I'm changing in here, so don't you dare come in!" she called.

"Yeah yeah, same goes here," I shot back, undressing and pulling on some dry clothes. Fortunately for me, my dad had, for some reason, left some of his old clothes in here too over the years, which meant I had no difficulty in finding out something to wear. My dad's clothes still felt foreign to wear, though, as though they were wrong on my body. It was a strange feeling, knowing that these used to fit my dad. Made me wonder what it would be like to be in his shoes right now.

"Ugh, Kazue needs to change her style!" Hotaru stomped out of the bathroom in one of my mom's old fluffy sweaters and a pair of mom jeans. Her expression read 'seriously pissed off'. "I can't believe she can feel okay wearing stuff like this!"

"Hey, this is my mom you're bitching about here!" I snapped, equally as mad. "Would you rather wear that awful red nightmare coat down to dinner?" She shut up then, though she was still sulking as we trooped downstairs.

As I pushed open the large oak doors leading to the meeting room, I was shocked. My parents had actually dressed up as _adults_, not _parents_. Hotaru wolf-whistled as she eyed my mom's spaghetti-strap white dress, eyes widening even more as she saw my dad's first two buttons were _unbuttoned_.

"Wow, you guys actually dressed sexy," she commented with raised eyebrows before sitting down. My dad coughed, face reddening.

"It's 'sexily', not 'sexy'," I shot back, taking a seat beside her. "Go back to grammar school."

"Hold up, hold up, we got ourselves a grammar Nazi in the room," she muttered to me, elbowing me in the ribs. Nice.

For a few awkward minutes the four of us were alone in the large room, almost like it were some crazy Koizumi family reunion, when Dango entered.

And boy, did she enter.

"Sorry I took a while," she mumbled, head bowed. It was easy to tell that Sayuri had literally forced her into the dark halter-neck dress she was in. Her short, dark hair was pinned back with a few hair grips.

"You look pretty," Hotaru complimented as Dango sat down beside her.

"Um… thank you," she whispered back, face red. "I honestly didn't want to wear this, but Sayuri insisted…"

"Somehow I saw that coming."

Takeo entered the room next, along with Mikuru, who were both also smartly dressed. Mikuru took a seat opposite Dad, and began talking to them about boring, grown-up stuff. Takeo took a seat beside her and began teasing me about my height again.

At last, Sayuri and who I assumed was that weirdo pilot from the helicopter, Nakagawa, joined us at the table as the food was served. At this, Takeo's face seemed to fall.

"Not tonight then, huh?" he asked Sayuri, who shook her head knowingly.

"Probably not tonight, pet. But who knows?"

She gave us all a mysterious smile before digging into her food.

"What do you guys mean, not tonight?" I asked, puzzled. "I don't get you two at all." Takeo grinned slyly at me.

"It's grown-up talk, Rikuto. You wouldn't understand."

This comment made me pissed.

"That's rich. You're only a year older than me and yet you act like you're so much more important."

"I am. Me and my family are right in the centre of this war. You kind of flounder at the side like a lost lamb or something."

He continued to eat, ignoring my protests. Well, screw him.

"How are you kids enjoying your stay so far?" Dad inputted, hoping to steer the conversation away from the war. I wasn't having any of it.

"Why do you always call us kids?" I snapped. "We're not blind, you know! We can see this war, we're living in it… so why can't you guys tell us anything?" My dad looked taken aback; I'd been dwelling on it since our earlier conversation with Takeo, but for my parents, this was news to them.

"What are you talking about?" My father's brow furrowed.

"I'm saying, you guys don't let us in on any of the proper information," I sulked, picking at my food without much enthusiasm. "You don't trust us. You look down on us, just cause we're younger."

"Now don't you say that," Mom said, surprisingly stern. "We've never looked down on you kids." She winced at the word 'kids', but continued nonetheless. "We're shielding you from the truth because we don't want this war to consume you. It's for your own good."

"It's stupid and I don't care how badly it affects me," I replied, sticking out my chin stubbornly. "I just don't want there to be any more secrets."

The atmosphere was icy as we ate in silence. It seemed my outburst was weighing on my parents' shoulders, and part of me felt bad for sounding like such a brat. But I deserved my answers, and they were being unreasonable for not giving them to me.

Hotaru kept kicking me under the table, glaring at me with a 'why'd you have to go and screw up the evening?' kind of expression. I gave my most ferocious sneer back, pissed off at her too for taking their side. Of all people, it was Hotaru who I was expecting to back me the most. I never expected it to be her who would side with my parents and accept being left in the dark.

The odd small talk was made then and there, and gradually Mikuru, Sayuri and Dango began to engage in a conversation, while the rest of the table pledged war against each other through a string of harsh glares, kicking under the table and elbowing in various parts of the body.

It was a dinner longer than most.

* * *

Two hours later, my mother finally decided to crack.

I had just taken a shower and had begun to towel-dry my hair when my mother knocked on the door.

"Can I come in, honey?" I debated with myself for a moment whether to open up or to play the 'I'm still mad at you' card, but in the end I opened the door and she sat down on my bed, an unhappy look in her eyes.

"Honey, I want you to know why we don't tell you guys this stuff." She beckoned for me to sit down and she began to stroke my damp hair, twirling individual strands around her index finger.

"Even if your father doesn't agree with me telling you," she began absent-mindedly, "I still think it'll do you good to know why." She sighed. "I remember as clearly as anything the day you were born. It was painful, and I was scared that you wouldn't pull through - there were a few complications before you were born and the stress made my pregnancy really difficult. But the moment I held you in my arms, I was so grateful for the life I had led. Me and your father, we held you, and we found each other in your face. It was such a big moment for us in our lives, you know? We knew that things weren't going to be easy, though. When we realised that war was most likely going to happen, we realised we wanted to protect you as much as we could, but we weren't always going to be there. That's why you were given the ESPer gene, Rikuto… so you could be strong enough to defend yourself, when we weren't there to protect you.

"Even so, we figured that if we didn't share crucial details with you, you'd be in less danger than you are already. You and Hotaru… you're our children. It's our jobs to take care of you, and if that means not letting you guys in on some of the more dangerous information, so be it. I'm sorry it has to be like this, honey…" She turned to me and gave me a hug, and I buried my head in her shoulder. I missed these times. When I was younger we used to talk all the time, sit in private and share the special bond a mother has with her son.

It's times like those we just don't have anymore.

"I miss being with you, Mom," I mumbled into her shoulder. She rubbed my back soothingly.

"Me too," she replied back, without hesitation. "So much."

My father appeared in the doorway.

"Can I come in?" he asked, inviting himself in, anyway. He sat down next to Mom and ruffled my hair.

"Where'd that come from earlier, huh?" he asked with a half smile. "You sure left me stumped."

"That was the plan," I said quietly, pulling away from Mom. I stared down at my hands. "I'm sorry… but I wanted answers. I know you guys are doing it for my own safety… but I'm not a child. Not anymore. You need to trust me now."

"You're our son," Dad said firmly, folding his arms. "I'm sorry, Rikuto… one day, we'll explain everything. But not today. Today, you're still a kid, and you're still our son. That means it's still our duty to keep you safe."

I figured as such.

"Do I detect a sour grape?" he teased as I grumbled to myself. As he reached over to pat my head again I swatted his hand away.

"No! I'm just annoyed that you guys will probably die of old age before trusting me with your secrets," I answered, truthfully to an extent.

At that moment, raised voices dragged us from our little 'moment', and my mother stood up.

"Wonder what that's all about," she murmured. As she moved towards the doorway, Mikuru tottered in the hall, face flushed with excitement.

"Oh, come quickly!" she squeaked upon seeing us. "Th-They're here!"

"They who?" Mom wondered as Mikuru shook her head and headed for the staircase. I got to my feet.

"Lets investigate!" I grinned, following suit. My parents followed my lead as I thundered down the staircase. As I skidded to a halt at the bottom of the steps, almost tripping over the carpet, I stared in shock as two familiar figures stood in the doorway, shaking snow out of their soaked hair, brushing ice from their faces, their jackets, their bags.

All I saw was a flash of yellow ribbons before I was swept up into a bone-crushing hug.

"Yo, Rikuto! It's been a long time, huh?"

"Hey, give him some room to breathe, your hugs are like a snake's death grip."

"Oh, lay off the insults, will ya?"

As I was released, I gazed into a pair of extremely familiar brown eyes. From behind me, I heard Mom gasp.

"B-But what are you doing here?" she asked. The woman who just hugged me, none other than Haruhi Suzumiya herself, turned to grin at my mother, shaking more snow out of her hair. My godfather stood to one side, shivering in his jacket.

"Oh, we were travelling through the mountains and stopped to take a teeny vacation," she shrugged. "Hey, either of you guys seen my son?"

* * *

**Cha-Cha: So, it seems we discovered Takeo's past, and was that an appearance of Haruhi and Kyon I spotted in there? :O Oh, little message for Mr Wang: We're not completely sure how in-character Takeo was during this chapter… so please give us some feedback so we can get him back on track ASAP! :3**

**Okay, well, you know what to do. Also, I don't think we'll be able to accept OCs anymore… things are getting too hectic trying to keep on top of all of them. (With an exception of Super, seeing as he's kind of booked in advance (?) I guess…)**

**Anyway, review! (If you want…)**


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